GLOBAL OIL PRICES FELL

Global oil prices fell below 50 dollars on Monday, due to high output, against falling demand fuelled by slower global economic growth.

Brent crude oil prices fell to 49.31 a barrel, in early sessions of the week, while US light crude oil fell to 47.52 per barrel.

Goldman Sachs lowered three-month price forecast for Brent to 42 dollar a barrel, from 80 dollars before, and lowered the price forecast for US light crude to 41 dollars a barrel, down from 70 dollars, in the first half of 2015.

"To keep all capital sidelined and curtail investment in shale until the market has rebalanced, we believe prices need to stay lower for longer" said in the Goldman Sachs report.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has said it would not support prices by cutting production and ignored calls from smaller Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members, including Venezuela, to react to falling oil prices at a meeting of the cartel in November.

Venezuela said in a statement that it had agreed with Saudi Arabia to work to recover the oil market and oil prices "with state policies" between the two countries, without giving any details.

The weakness across oil markets became evident last week when for the first time since 2009, the entire oil complex slipped into contango, a market structure where prices for immediate delivery is cheaper than for delivery in future months.

The oil cartel had a meeting in November, on demands of smaller countries, calling for reducing the total output, to support the oil prices, when the prices were at 70-75 dollar. The fall at the prices was accelerated after the Gulf countries, led by Saudi Arabia, rejected the calls for output cuts at the meeting.

 

DHA