Brent falls to $45.26

Brent crude price has hit a new 5.5-year low.

Brent for February deliver fell below $46 a barrel in London, RBC reports.

The decline went faster on the night of January 13, when the price of a barrel dropped below $47. Prices went up a little by the morning, but then fell again. A barrel of Brent cost $45.87 at 9:55 Minsk time. The price reached $45.26 at 10:46.

Light Sweet crude has fallen to its lowest in the last 5.5 years. Its price was below $45 a barrel at 9:40.

The price of the US crude continued to drop amid speculation that US crude stockpiles will increase, exacerbating a global supply glut, Bloomberg writes. US crude stockpiles probably rose to 384.1 million barrels in the week ended January 9, according to analysts.

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch think Brent crude will fall to $40 a barrel in the near term. Experts think the cost of the US WTI crude will drop to $35 a barrel. It will make either Saudi Arabia or non-OPEC countries cut production, the bank said in a research note.

Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told USA Today he doesn't expect oil prices to ever return to $100 a barrel. If supply stays where it is, and demand remains weak, oil prices will continue to fall, he noted.

Photo: Bloomberg