Oil prices hit year low; OPEC considers output cut

The Address | Benghazi – Libya

LONDON – Oil prices fell to their lowest in more than a year on Friday, on course for their biggest one-month decline since late 2014, even as oil producers considered cutting production to try to stem a rising global surplus.

Oil supply, led by U.S. producers, is growing more quickly than demand and to ward off a build-up of unused fuel such as the one that emerged in 2015, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to start trimming output after a meeting planned for Dec. 6.

But this has done little so far to prop up prices. The value of a barrel of oil has dropped by around 20 percent so far in November, in a seven-week streak of losses.

Benchmark Brent crude oil fell $3.26 a barrel, or 5.2 percent, to $59.34, its lowest since October 2017. By 1340 GMT, Brent was trading around $59.60, down $3.00.

U.S. light crude lost $4.00, or 7.3 percent, to touch a low of $50.63 a barrel, also the weakest since October 2017.

Source: Reuters