Oil prices slumped Friday to lows not seen since last year as concerns over high crude supplies triggered massive selling, dealers said.<\/p>\n
The WTI futures contract, the New York commodities markets\u2019 benchmark, fell more nearly seven per cent on the day, while its European counterpart, Brent Crude, dropped close to five per cent.<\/p>\n
High global oil production compared to demand was the top reason for Friday\u2019s selling, while the outlook for a weakening world economy led investors to conclude that growth would not be strong enough to soak up the surplus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth of the matter remains that rising global crude supply coupled with worrying signs of slowing demand have written a recipe for disaster for the oil markets,\u201d said Lukman Otunuga, a research analyst at\u00a0FXTM<\/em>.<\/p>\n With a December OPEC meeting not expected to make a major dent in production levels, WTI now had scope to fall to $50 \u201cin the near term\u201d,<\/p>\n By the mid-European afternoon, WTI was just below $51 and Brent just under $60.<\/p>\n