The number of oil traders betting on $100-per-barrel WTI by 2019 has surged in the past week.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude reached $75 a barrel on July 3, but quickly dropped to settle at just 0.3% higher, after the American Petroleum Institute (API) announced that US crude inventories fell by 4.51 million barrels last week.

Following a pipeline explosion in Libya, oil prices rose to highs not seen since mid-2015.

CME Group plans to begin selling WTI-Dubai future contracts as early as next month.

Switzerland-based Vitol has been announced to load the first US export cargo after 40 years from the Enterprise Products Partners' Houston terminal in the first week of 2016. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) keeps maintaining its newly acquired premium over Brent.

The investment bank Goldman Sach’s recently released a report saying that oil prices could drop to $20/barrel, at least in the short term, USAToday reported.

Oil prices for benchmark WTI and Brent crude fell on Monday as stock markets suffer heavy losses and global markets slow down, reported Reuters.