Oil prices slumped to new 5-1/2-year lows on Monday on
worries about a surplus of global supplies and lackluster demand.
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".
"New supply has entered the market, offsetting Libya
woes. Additional exports are coming primarily from Russia and Iraq,"
Longson wrote in a note to clients.
Lackluster economic data from the United States on Friday
fueled worries about the state of the global economy and the strength of oil
demand.
"Oil demand is unlikely be robust this year when we
look at the state of economies in China, Japan and Europe," said Yusuke
Seta, a commodity sales manager at Newedge Japan.
A weak euro may also have contributed to further oil losses
as it reduces the purchasing power of euro holders for dollar-denominated oil. Reuter
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