Oil prices have experienced a slight drop following an industry report that indicated a rise in US inventories, increasing concerns that the global oversupply has not ended. 

Brent crude LCOc1 fell by 9 cents at $46.56 a barrel to touch at $44.35, while US crude dropped by 17 cents to reach $44.07, reported Reuters.

According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), crude stockpiles increased by 851,000 barrels last week in the US. Stockpiles of gasoline and distillates also grew.

Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch was quoted by the news agency as saying: "There appears to be no end to the bearish news on the oil market. 

"This is likely to add fuel to doubts that any process of market tightening is underway." 

"There appears to be no end to the bearish news on the oil market."

An increase in US inventories indicate that supplies continue to remain ample despite the efforts of OPEC to reduce output by 1.8 million bpd since the beginning of this year.

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The glut in supply caused prices to drop from above $100 a barrel in mid-2014.

Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob as saying: "The US crude oil stock build is not huge but it is still a build and that does not go in the direction of the Saudi rebalancing." 

OPEC and its allies agreed to extend the supply cut into 2018.

The price of oil has dropped from $54 a barrel this year due to an increase in production from the US, as well as Nigeria and Libya, two OPEC members exempted from reducing output.