Oil prices have fallen after Saudi Arabia rejected a plan to hold a summit to discuss the global troubles facing the commodity.
October Brent dropped 65 cents to $48.24 a barrel, while the US crude contract for October fell 70 cents to $45.22 a barrel, Reuters reported.
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The news agency reported sources familiar with the matter saying that Saudi Arabia, de facto leader of the OPEC block, assumes the summit may not lead to definitive action toward defending prices.
Venezuela proposed for a summit of OPEC member to discuss the strategy amid falling oil prices.
Prices of the commodity came under further pressure as Goldman Sachs lowered its West Texas Intermediate (WTI) forecast for 2015 to $48.10 per barrel and its 2016 WTI price forecast to $45 per barrel.
Data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted that a demand for gasoline over the latest four-week period increased almost 4% compared with 2014, leading to a rise in oil prices on Thursday.
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By GlobalDataLast week, crude stocks saw a rise of 2.6 million barrels to 458 million barrels.
However, EIA data showed a decline in crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, by 897,000 barrels to 56.41 million barrels.
