The price of Brent crude oil fell towards $60 a barrel on Friday after US Government data showed crude stocks hit a record high last week.
Reuters reported that Brent crude futures for April were down 15 cents at $60.06 and US crude for March delivery was down 21 cents at $50.95.
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Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that US crude inventories increased 7.7 million barrels to 425.6 million barrels last week.
The EIA said stockpiles of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) US crude at the Cushing oil hub in Oklahoma increased the most in six years.
Jeffries Futures analysts were quoted by the news agency as saying: "With total crude stocks now about 425 million barrels and Cushing north of 46 million barrels, WTI is looking increasingly mispriced high above $52 per the April contract."
The declining rig numbers in the US support oil prices as they indicate reduction in supplies.
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By GlobalDataThe number of rigs drilling for oil in the US declined to its lowest since August 2011 last week.
Oil services company Baker Hughes is due to unveil this week’s rig-count numbers later today.
Meanwhile, anticipations of continued oversupply were supported by increasing production levels from Saudi Arabia.
Barclays oil analyst Miswin Mahesh expects exports from Saudi Arabia to reach 9 million barrels per day in 2016 due to its focus on protecting market share
