Brent oil prices dipped below $30 in Asian hours Thursday, underscoring weakness in the energy market amid a continued increase in the supply of the commodity.
U.S. WTI light sweet crude fell as much as 0.7 percent and was last at $30.66 a barrel while Brent oil fell as much as 1.9 percent to $29.73–its lowest level since February 2004–and was last at $30.05 a barrel.
Prices have tanked 20 percent just two weeks into this year and are about 70 percent lower since the summer of 2014 when prices started declining on a sustained basis.
Weighing on oil markets Thursday was a bearish report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Wednesday which showed gasoline stocks surged by 8.4 million barrels while distillates stock jumped by 6.1 million barrels.
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