Oil Producers Betting on Further Price Drop

The oil industry was listening as OPEC talked down crude prices to a more than five-year low.

Drillers, refiners and other merchants increased bets on lower prices to the most in three years in the week ended Jan. 6, government data show. Producers idled the most rigs since 1991, with some paying to break leases on drilling equipment.

Companies are hedging more and drilling less on concern that the biggest plunge in prices since 2008 will continue. Oil fell for a seventh week after officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reiterated they won’t curb output to halt the decline.

Bloomberg

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