Falling Prices Make Strange Bedfellows

As WTI prices continue to hover around the $75 mark, who would have thought that the new best friend of the U.S., oil and gas industry might be ... wait for it ... OPEC.   "The lower the price falls, the greater the pressure on OPEC to announce an output reduction," said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York.  But don't look for OPEC to save the day too soon.

Some commentators, including John Kiduff at Again Capital, believe increasing amounts of oil are hitting the market from all corners of the globe.  Moreover, as Kiduff notes, OPEC seems to be looking for Saudi Arabia to lead the way on OPEC production cuts, which he says "is not going to happen."