Oil steepens decline, WTI under $50 as oversupply looms

• Oil markets heave lower as US supply threatens to hit records across the board with no signs of slowing.
• OPEC+'s promised production cut is set to already be absorbed before it even begins.

Crude markets took a turn lower on Monday and WTI knocked below the critical 50.00 level as energies traders continue to balk at rising US oversupply.

OPEC+ recently dedicated itself to reducing oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day beginning in January, but crude traders see little reason to jump on the oil-bidding bandwagon anytime soon as US production continues to ramp up far above levels that crude demand can hope to absorb. WTI has shed more than 30% since the beginning of October, trading into 14-month lows as US inventories climb over the million barrel mark for a single week, while US shale production is expected to peak in the coming months at over 8 million barrels per day, and a crushing wave of US oversupply is hammering oil prices even lower heading into the year's end.

WTI Technical Levels