There is no doubt that oil has been one of the hottest and most volatile commodities so far this year. It is again showing large swings in its prices. Over the last three weeks, oil prices spiked 42% since its collapse back on February 11, when it briefly sunk to $26 a barrel.

This may be a sign that the global oil market has regained some momentum, possibly indicating that the worst might be over for the commodity.

Continued Oil Rebound in the Cards?

Over the last several years, United States domestic production has almost doubled, consequently driving out other oil imports. Oil from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Algeria once sold in the U.S. are now competing in the growing Asian markets. Canadian and Iraqi oil exports have been rising continuously year after year. And Russian production has even managed to stay steady, despite the country’s economic problems.

There have been signs, however, that production is falling. On February 16, OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Qatar, along with Russia, announced a plan to freeze output at current levels (for more information on OPEC, read our article “Everything You Need to Know About OPEC”).

Consulting firm Wood MacKenzie identified 68 large global oil and natural gas projects that have been put on holdsince prices began to fall. RBC Capital Markets, meanwhile, has calculated that other oil projects, some capable of producing a half million barrels of oil per day, were cancelled, delayed, or shelved by OPEC countries in 2015, with this year promising more of the same.

Despite this, a drop in production is not happening quickly enough, delaying the likelihood that prices will fully recover any time soon. Some analysts question how long the resurgence can be sustained since the global oil market remains substantially oversupplied.

Given the somewhat renewed optimism and improving supply & demand fundamentals, many oil ETFs and ETNs have seen smooth trading lately, and are doing better from longer time frames too. Two of the most popular ETFs in the space– United States Oil Fund (USO – ETF report)and PowerShares DB Oil Fund (DBO – ETF report)–both provide exposure to WTI oil, and have gained 11.69% and 5.51% over the past month, respectively.

Though the duo might appear similar at a glance, there are a number of key differences between the two that are detailed below.

USO

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