Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price sinks below $65 to hit its lowest point so far this year
Oil has dropped below $65 per barrel to its lowest price of 2018 as the US pumps out record amounts of crude.
At the time of writing, Brent crude oil prices were down 1.22 per cent at $64.71 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, was down 1.59 per cent at $60.81 a barrel.
Crude oil has also been under pressure from a stronger US dollar, which is on track for its biggest weekly rise in more than a year.
David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, said traders were concerned about over-supply in the market.
“The Energy Information Administration (EIA) report yesterday showed that US oil inventories increased, and production hit an all-time high. Overnight, China imports surged and oil imports hit a record high, but it wasn’t enough to balance out the concerns about excess supply,” Madden said.
US output, which recently exceeded 10m barrels per day (bpd) for the first time in decades, has hit 10.25m bpd, the EIA said, marking a new record high and overtaking the output of oil giant Saudi Arabia.
The EIA raised the US’ 2018 average output forecast to 10.59m bpd, up 320,000 bpd from its estimate last week.
Oil prices have been on the decline after a strong start to the year. Since reaching $71 late last month, the highest price since 2014, Brent has slipped by about eight per cent.
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