Brent oil price hit 11-year low Monday as the market continued to be plagued by an oversupply of crude oil and weakening demand.
Brent crude for February delivery decreased 53 cents to close at 36.35 U.S. dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange, while the West Texas Intermediate for January delivery moved up 1 cent to settle at 34.73 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil prices were dragged down recently by the global supply glut. Earlier this month, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to keep crude production pumping at current level in the already oversupplied market.
The United States lifted a 40-year-old ban on export of oil last Friday. The U.S. government forbad oil exports following a 1973 Arab oil embargo that sent U.S. domestic gasoline prices skyrocketing. Thanks to the shale oil revolution, American oil production has almost doubled in the past six years.
For the week ended Dec. 11, U.S. crude production added 12,000 to 9.176 million barrels a day, according to U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA)'s weekly report. U.S. crude supplies of that week gained 4.8 million barrels to 490.7 million barrels, 110.7 million barrels more than one year before.
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