U.S. crude futures extended their losses into a third session and hit a more than two-month low on Friday, against the backdrop of swelling oil stockpiles, which has triggered a 10% drop in prices since the start of November, Reuters reported.
U.S. crude futures were at $41.57 a barrel early Friday, off the day's low of $41.38 - the weakest since August 27. On Thursday, the benchmark closed down almost 3% at $41.54 on a 4.2 million barrel crude inventory rise, according to the report.
Underlining the current glut, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Thursday, the market is in the midst of only the second period in a decade when inventories in developed economies have exceeded the five-year average by more than an "excessive" level of 150 million barrels. The first followed the 2008 financial crisis.
Read alsoIEA predicts cheap oil era until 2040Inventories in OECD economies are currently 210 million barrels above the five-year average, OPEC said, more than the 180 million barrels above that average they stood at in early 2009.
A sharp drop in Iraqi oil production has driven OPEC's overall output down. The group produced 31.382 million barrels a day in October, down from 31.638 million barrels a day in September, still more than 1 million barrels a day higher than its stated output goal.
On Tuesday, November 10, the American Petroleum Institute reported that U.S. crude stock inventories rose 6.3 million barrels for the week ended November 6, which was much larger than expected. The inventory remains at its highest level for this time of year in at least 80 years.