Oil Could Plunge Below $30 A Barrel, Expert Says

Oil prices continue moving towards the $30 per barrel mark, prompting some investors to question if the commodity can rebound from those levels.

The Wall Street Journal's Georgi Kantchev, an oil and energy expert, argued in an article on Thursday that oil could sink below $30 a barrel "soon."

Kantchev cited concerns over the Chinese economy and continued fear of oversupply in the global market as two catalysts that can force the price of oil to dip below $30 per barrel for the first time since 2003.

China is the world's second-largest user of oil and consumes around 12 percent of the global supply.

Kantchev noted that on Thursday, the price of West Texas Intermediate hit a low of $32.10 a barrel while the price of Brent crude traded at $32.16 - its lowest level since April 2004.

"A fall below the landmark $30 level would send ripples from Riyadh to Houston as the embattled oil industry struggles to cope with a historic price rout," Kantchev wrote. "At the same time, consumers and business are seeing cheaper oil at the gas pump and in their heating bills."

Kantchev also pointed out that oil markets are preparing for hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from Iran.