Crude setting up for a steady bullish recovery, WTI clawing back to $52.00

• Despite struggles with volatility, crude markets are beginning to mark in a corrective lean this week.
• Global oil production remains well above what demand can hope to absorb, but OPEC is expected to begin reigning in out-of-control production.

After a rough seven-week decline that saw oil prices shed 35% peak-to-trough, with WTI barrels skiding from 77.00 to the 50.00 zone, fueled by an unexpected walk-back on Iranian sanctions from the US, as well as continued signs of drastic overproduction across the planet's largest crude producers, including the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

Oil prices have begun making a steady yet slow recovery, and WTI is now trading into 51.75, just shy of the 52.00 handle as investors find renewed confidence that OPEC is expected to begin drawing down their production levels following the oil cartel's meeting in early December, but upwards momentum remains constrained as US crude production levels remain near all-time highs, and doubts remain about OPEC's ability to snap the valves closed, especially with Saudi Arabia's oil production for November ticking into a record 11.3 million barrels per day.

WTI Technical Levels