Oil prices have declined sharply over the summer, even falling below $100 a barrel last week.
Brent crude declined to its lowest intraday level in more than two years, and West Texas Intermediate to a 16-month low.
Brent fell $1.04 to settle at $99.16, the lowest closing price since April 18, 2013. Earlier in Thursday, Brent slumped to $99.03, the lowest intraday price since May 1, 2013.
WTI for October delivery slid as much as $1.24 to $90.43 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest since May 1, 2013.
US crude rose 9 cents to settle at $92.75, snapping a three-day losing streak.
Prices have decreased 7.9 percent this year.
Saudi Production Cut
Saudi Arabia cut production by 330,000 barrels a day to 9.68 million a day in August, according to the IEA.
The nation exported 6.95 million barrels a day in June. The kingdom said in a submission to OPEC that it reduced production in August by 408,000 barrels a day to 9.6 million a day.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi on Thursday played down concerns about the recent fall in oil prices below $100 per barrel.
“Have you ever seen me concerned?” Al Naimi said when asked if the fall was a matter for concern. “This is not the first time prices change, they always change. It’s a dynamic process,” he told Reuters.The kingdom’s current output is around 9.6 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the OPEC.
While Saudi Arabia cut its production by 400,000 barrels a day in August, others are boosting their oil flows.
Kuwait Boosts Output
Kuwait is boosting its crude output this month despite falling prices.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Kuwait has increased its production to 2.9 million barrels a day this month, up 100,000 barrels a day from August. It could rise to 3 million barrels a day next month. The output hike is to supply a 10-year deal signed last month by Kuwait with SinopecCorp. The contract will nearly double Kuwait’s supplies to the Chinese oil giant to 300,000 barrels a day.
The move also reflects optimism over the oil price after Kuwait oil minister Ali Saleh Al-Omair said earlier Thursday he expects “it to rebound again.”
Iran Responses
In response to whether Iran would request an emergency meeting to address falls in oil prices, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the ministry had no plans to do so.
“Currently, we do not believe that emergency meeting is necessary,” Zanganeh was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying on Thursday.
“We face restrictions in making a request for such meeting; however, other OPEC members would soon make such request to the OPEC,” he added.
Zanganeh said that the higher the oil prices, the better, adding: “No predictions could be made now for future months about cuts in crude supply by OPEC.”
