Oil prices slumped to new five and half year lows on Monday on worries about a surplus of global supplies and lackluster demand.
File Photo: Crude Oil
Russia’s oil output hit a post-Soviet high last year, averaging 10.58 million barrels per day (bpd), up 0.7 percent thanks to small non-state producers, Energy Ministry data showed.
Iraq’s oil exports were at their highest since 1980 in December, an oil ministry spokesman said, with record sales from the country’s southern terminals.
But oil producer group OPEC has decided not to cut output, opting to let the market find its own level.
The two crude oil benchmarks – Brent and U.S. light crude, also known as West Texas Intermediate – have now lost more than half of their value since mid-2014.
Brent crude LCOc1 for February dropped as low as $54.02 a barrel, down $2.40 from Friday’s close and its weakest since May 2009, before edging back to around $54.50 by 1420 GMT (0920 ET).
U.S. crude CLc1 slid to $50.55 a barrel on Monday, down $2.14 and also its lowest since May 2009.
“The easiest path for oil is down,” said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil and commodities analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
“Almost all market news and the fundamental backdrop are negative and it is difficult to see much upside at the moment.”
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Longson agreed, saying it was “hard to see much improvement in oil fundamentals near term”.