Oil continuing its familiar sideways pattern, WTI getting comfy near $52.00

• Crude has gone flat on the charts as WTI cycles 52/barrel.
• Broader energies markets will be waiting for OPEC+ to begin cutting production in January.

WTI continues to cycle the handle near 52.00, as recent market fundamentals have seen crude barrels get hung up on this week's consolidation, which carried over from last Friday's lows near  49.30, and expectations that US production will continue to hold near all-time highs, while the OPEC+ conglomerate gears up for 2019 production cuts to the tune of 1.2 million barrels per day.

US crude oil markets remain firmly in production mode, with US crude supplies steadily pinned into record numbers, and sluggish rising demand for energies products is seeing crude barrels remaining constrained on the low end of prices. Tensions continue to flare in the Middle East following the capture of an oilfield by Libyan rebels earlier this week, but crude costs are remaining where they are for the time being.

WTI levels to watch