NEW YORK, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Insider expectations that a rally in the global crude oil market will be short lived brought heavy losses Monday for Brent and West Texas Intermediate. The price for Brent, the global oil benchmark, was trading last week around the $60 per barrel mark, up more than 30 percent from its mid-January low. The growth trajectory followed a bear market for crude oil that erased more than half of the value from the June high above the $100 per barrel mark.
The rally, however, has slowed as markets pause to react to the gains since January. Brent for April delivery was off nearly 3 percent from the previous close to $58.46 early in the Monday session.
Eithne Treanor, who acts as the on-air conference moderator for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, wrote in a note last week most investment analysts expect the rally in crude oil prices to be short lived.
"Crude oil demand is at its weakest at this time of year," she said in comments published by online energy platform Oilbarrel. "With refinery turnaround season underway, high storage and inventories and excess supply on the market, few industry players are getting too excited about an increase in the oil price any time soon."
Last year's drop in oil prices was sparked in part by a market bogged down by supplies, largely from a United States in the midst of a production boom. While the low price for oil is leaving companies strapped for cash needed for exploration and production, gains in oil output from U.S. shale suggest the sector has yet to slow down.
The American Petroleum Institute and Energy Information Administration last week reported crude oil inventories in the United States near record highs.
The price for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, saw dramatic losses in early Monday trading, down more than 4 percent to $48.70 per barrel for the April contract.
