More price drops predicted as the market is yet to recover

Oil prices could take some time to bounce back - and the rout is not over yet

The bottom is nearing, but the pain is really just beginning. The plunge in oil prices, which in mid-January were trading beneath $50 a barrel (/b), or about 60% lower than their summer 2014 peak, has shaken the industry and is already devastating upstream investment plans. Steep price drops are still plausible, especially in the first half of this year, because the market is oversupplied -- and Opec, true to its word, is not blinking. The group will not change its strategy, Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui, the United Arab Emirates’ oil minister, said in mid-January. Opec is determined to deal with the “oversupply coming from shale oil”.The depth of this commitment was plain, too, in Ali Naim