SINGAPORE: Oil prices trimmed losses on Friday, having fallen more than 3 per cent at one stage, the day after skidding to five-month lows as mounting concerns about global oversupply wiped out price gains since Opec sealed a landmark accord to cut output.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $44.92 per barrel at 0716 GMT, down 60 cents or 1.3 per cent, after a more than 4 per cent drop the previous session.
WTI futures are now at their lowest since Nov 14, below levels when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and other producers agreed cuts late last November in a bid to drain a supply glut and boost prices.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $47.88 per barrel, down 50 cents or 1 per cent from their last close.
Prices fell to as low as $46.64, the lowest since November 30.
Brent tumbled back below $50 in the previous session.
At their intraday lows, Brent and WTI were heading for their largest two-day percentage loss since February 2016.
“It is now-or-never for oil bulls,” said US commodity analysis firm The Schork Report on Friday. “They either put up a defence here or risk further emboldening the bears for a run at the $40 threshold (for WTI).”— Reuters
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