Oil Prices Drop Amid Supply Worries

New York (PNA/Xinhua) — Crude prices decreased Monday amid worries of a global supply glut.

In 2015, non-OPEC oil supply is projected to grow by 0.85 million barrels per day (mb/d), unchanged from the previous assessment, while OPEC crude production declined by 0.14 mb/d to 30.02 mb/d, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC) said in its monthly oil market report Monday.

The increase of oil supply came “despite the fact that global supply continued to exceed demand,” OPEC said.

U.S. crude production rose to 9.366 million barrels in the week ended March 6, the highest level since 1983,according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Energy Department’s statistical arm.

In the week ended March 6, U.S. crude stockpiles increased 4.5 million barrels to 448.9 million, 78.9 million barrels more than a year earlier.

Meanwhile, inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the contract, gained 2.3 million barrels to 51.5 million barrels.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery lost 96 U.S. cents to settle at 43.88 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for April delivery moved down 1.23 dollars to close at 53.44 dollars a barrel. (PNA/Xinhua) FPV/EBP