The bear market in U.S. crude will continue, eventually ending one day in "panic liquidation," widely followed investor Dennis Gartman predicted Wednesday.

"It will end when you've had an announcement of five or six bankruptcies. It will end when mergers and acquisitions step in and take over," the founder and editor of The Gartman Letter said on CNBC's "Closing Bell."

U.S. crude (WTI) futures closed at their lowest in more than six years on Wednesday at $40.80 a barrel after U.S. data showed an unexpected rise in crude stockpiles.

Oil has lost about a third of its value since June. U.S. oil production is at record levels and producer costs appear to be declining, with no output scaleback anticipated.

U.S. production, which declined slightly two weeks ago, remains steady in the week of Aug. 14 at 9.348 million barrels a day, versus 9.395 million barrels the week earlier.

"The only people who are going to survive this are the people who used the WTI and the to hedge production two and three and four years forward," said Gartman.