Oil prices continue declining

Oil prices continue to decline: U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $50.16 per barrel at 0648 GMT, down 26 cents, or 0.5%, from their last close. They fell below $50 per barrel earlier in the session.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 22 cents, or 0.4%, at $55.78 a barrel.

The drops came over concerns that a third-quarter market rally that had lifted Brent to mid-2015 highs by late September had been overdone.

Traders said that a so-called market rebalancing is now well underway, meaning that demand is no longer undershooting available supply, Reuters reported.

The re-balancing is a result of strong consumption and also due to efforts led by the OPEC to cut output by around 1.8 million bpd in 2017 and the first quarter of next year.

But rising production in the United States, which is not participating in the deal to cut output, has prevented prices from climbing further.

U.S. production C-OUT-T-EIA hit 9.55 million bpd in late September, its highest level since July 2017 and not far off its 9.61 million bpd record from June 2015.