Crude Oil prices settled at their lowest since 2011, on Wednesday, 12 November 2014 at Nymex as a drop in OPEC production last month nearly matched output increases from countries outside the cartel.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December fell 76 cents, or 1%, to finish at $77.18 a barrel. That's oil lowest settlement since 4 October 2011. New York-traded oil futures are down 22% so far this year. Crude futures prices have lost about 30% since a peak in June amid concerns about the supply glut and slackening global demand.
In its monthly oil market report released Wednesday, OPEC said its production in October dropped by 230,000 barrels of oil a day to 30.25 million barrels a day, with production decreases from Saudi Arabia, Angola, and Nigeria. Libyan production rose.
Crude output from countries that do not belong to OPEC, however, rose by 250,000 barrels of oil a day, OPEC said in the report. The share of OPEC crude-oil production in the global output decreased to 32.7%, compared with 33% in September.
OPEC has signaled it would not move to cut production when it meets Nov. 27 in Vienna. Saudi Arabia and other top producing OPEC members have instead cut the price of their oil, a move viewed as a way to preserve market share.
In the report, OPEC kept its estimate for global oil demand growth unchanged at 1.05 million barrels a day, and its 2015 forecast also in line with the previous month's report at 1.19 million barrels a day.
Also on Wednesday, the International Energy Agency released its annual outlook report, saying that global energy demand will increase by 37% over the next 20 years, but turmoil in many key producing regions and policy challenges mean that energy supply may not be adequate.
Among other energy products, December gasoline rose less than a penny, or 0.2%, to end at $2.1070 a gallon on Nymex. December heating oil lost 2 cents, or 0.9%, to finish at $2.4469 a gallon on Nymex.
Elsewhere in energy trading, natural gas for December delivery retreated 6 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $4.1850 per million British thermal units. Natural gas has been down for three straight sessions.