The September oil price rally was predicated on improving oil market fundamentals, bolstering confidence that the rebalancing process was accelerating. But the inventory declines reported in the third quarter might be “as good as it gets,” with inventories returning to small increases next year, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs. The third quarter appeared to finally be the turning point for an oil market suffering from a more than three-year downturn. The OPEC deal was finally bearing fruit—inventories started posting substantial declines after a few years at or near record levels. That translated into a newfound bullishness in the market, and sizable price increases for WTI and Brent, particularly in September. But Goldman says that the third quarter could have been the peak for drawdowns, due to a variety of factors that could partially reverse going forward. For example, oil production outside of OPEC (excluding the U.S.) […]