Oil prices added to last week's big gains, hitting fresh two-month highs amid further signs that U.S. oil production is slowing down. The ongoing pullback in U.S. oil supplies and drilling activity has beefed up views that the shale boom, the main culprit of the soft oil prices of the past three years, is plateauing. Continue Reading Below ADVERTISEMENTMany market watchers says the prolonged prices have taken a toll on some oil companies, in particularly those with an upstream business. Even though OPEC and Russia have been cutting production all year, oil prices have fallen. As such, prices are liable to range from the mid-$40s to low-$50s because prices above there would encourage more U.S. oil drilling and hinder the global market from further tightening.

Source: Wall Street Journal July 31, 2017 04:30 UTC