Investing.com - Oil futures fell sharply on Monday, with Brent and West Texas Intermediate prices down more than 2% amid ongoing concerns over a glut in supplies.
Concerns over diminishing spare capacity to store excess oil in the U.S. and China also weighed, according to market participants.
In its monthly report released earlier in the day, OPEC left its 2015 estimate for non-OPEC supply growth at 420,000 barrels a day and warned that output in the U.S. might only start to be curbed towards the end of the year.
OPEC also trimmed its forecast for demand for its own oil in 2015 to 29.19 million barrels a day, down 100,000 barrels from a previous estimate.
On Friday, the International Energy Agency warned that an oil-price recovery remained fragile amid a production rebound in the U.S. The agency added that any appearance of stability in the oil market is tenuous.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for delivery in April hit a session low of $43.57 a barrel, a level not seen since March 2009, before trading at $43.90 during U.S. morning hours, down 94 cents, or 2.1%.
Meanwhile, the May U.S. oil contract was down 91 cents, or 1.93%, to trade at $46.15 after hitting an intraday low of $45.87.
New York-traded oil futures sank $4.76, or 9.61%, last week, the fourth consecutive weekly loss and the largest since early December.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for May delivery dropped $1.30, or 2.37%, to trade at $53.71 a barrel. Earlier in the day, prices touched $53.53, the lowest since February 2.
London-traded Brent prices slumped $4.95, or 8.47%, last week, the second straight weekly loss.
Meanwhile, the spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $7.56 a barrel, compared to $7.95 by close of trade on Friday.
Oil prices have fallen sharply in recent months as OPEC resisted calls to cut output, while the U.S. pumped at the fastest pace in more than three decades, creating a glut in global supplies.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar took a breather from its recent rally ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting beginning on Tuesday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.85% to 99.86, after hitting an intraday peak of 100.71, a level last reached in April 2003.
The euro slipped as low as $1.0471 early in the Asian session, a level not seen since, but then rebounded to $1.0607, up 1.05% on the day.
Sentiment on the single currency remained bearish amid the diverging monetary policy stance between the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
Market participants were looking ahead to Wednesday’s Federal Reserve statement to see if it would drop its reference to being patient before raising rates and signal that it is ready to hike rates depending on economic data.