Reuters: Oil producers enter supercycle's dark side: Kemp

Oil producers are getting another brutal reminder that theirs is a business characterised by long, deep price cycles.

Benchmark Brent futures have dropped below $90 a barrel, the lowest level since December 2010, but that actually understates the extent of the damage.

The problem with using December 2010 as a baseline is that oil prices at the time were hugely distorted by the cyclical downturn in demand caused by the financial crisis and the ensuing recession. Most analysts would agree these effects were temporary and give little insight into long-term oil-market trends.
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