Oil Prices Keep Plunging, America & China Are The Cause?

<p>&nbsp;Oil prices have reportedly experienced a continuous decline since last Tuesday due to increased oil supply by the United States (US) and concerns over China's slowing energy demand.</p><p><br /></p><p>Brent crude was down 48 cents at $80.70 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude was also down 53 cents at $76.13 a barrel. Both fell over 1.5% in the previous session.</p><p><br /></p><p>The WTI crude oil contract which is considered to be contango will trade below the contract price for two months. This indicates that investors expect a price increase with a discount of 17 cents for the second month.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to CMC Markets market analyst, Tina Teng, oil prices are under additional pressure due to concerns over record US crude oil production and troubling demand growth.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Crude oil stocks rose by 3.6 million barrels to 421.9 million barrels last week. According to information from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), it far exceeded analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for an increase of 1.8 million barrels.</p><p><br /></p><p>Currently, the US still produces 13.2 million barrels of crude oil per day.</p><p><br /></p><p>In October, China's oil-producing factories slowed slightly compared to the previous month due to lower fuel industry demand and shrinking refining margins.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, China's economy showed improvement last month with rapid industrial growth and better-than-expected retail sales results.</p><p><br /></p><p>Jun Rong Yeap, IG Marketing Strategy Officer reminded to take into account that the supply-demand dynamic has decreased and caused the release of the previous 'bullish' position.</p>