The steady decline of oil prices has accelerated after a sharp increase in US oil supplies to drive the market to its lowest level since Opec vowed to extend its programme of supply cuts.

The price of Brent crude plummeted almost 3.5pc to $48.38 per barrel after official US data showed an increase in the country’s crude inventories of 3.3m barrels in a shock to market traders who had expected a drop of 3.1m barrels.  […]

Fresh data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday that the country’s crude production could hit a record 10 million barrel of oil a day next year.

This rate is even higher than the current rate of 9.3 million barrels and almost as much as top exporter Saudi Arabia. It would also top a near fifty year record set during the US oil hey-day in 1970 at 9.6 million barrels a day.

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