In spite of U.S. crude oil inventories rising to the highest level since 1929 and the Doha oil producers meeting in April ending with no agreement to freeze crude oil production prices have risen by about $10 per barrel.
Smaller, highly leveraged oil producers such as Energy XXI, SandRidge Energy and Breitburn Energy have recently declared bankruptcy, while the larger better capitalized producers like Marathon Oil and Continental Resources have seen their share prices increase. Even midstream master limited partnerships have seen their share prices come off the lows.
But the question today, is where do we go from here?