Oil Prices Plummeted -7% on Friday To Touch The Year's Nadir

On Friday, oil prices dropped to their lowest level in almost a year. West Texas Intermediate crude briefly plunged about -7% to $50.60 a barrel, its weakest price since Oct. 12, 2017. International benchmark Brent crude price fell -4.9% to around $59.52 a barrel at 9:44 a.m. ET.

Oil prices are down around -20% so far this month. Reports of a possible production cut by OPEC in December is apparently failing to boost prices of crude futures.  Traders/investors are probably expecting the pace of oil demand growth to fall short of supply. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently projected that non-OPEC output alone would climb to 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, while global supply has already been climbing so far in 2018.  The IEA expects demand in 2019 to grow at a rate of 1.3 million bpd, revising down its previous forecast of 1.5 million bpd. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has been urging OPEC not to cut production next month as he is apparently in favor of lower oil prices.

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