Mubasher: Oil prices decreased in the week ended Friday, for the second consecutive week, amidst growing fears of a supply glut due to the increase in American production, which may recede the OPEC output deal.

The price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell by 9.1% to $48.49 per barrel (pb) down from $53.33 pb last week.

Meanwhile, Brent Crude declined by 8.1% to $51.37 pb compared to $55.90 pb at the previous week’s close.

On 30 November, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reached an agreement to reduce daily production by 1.2 million barrels to 32.5 million barrels for a period of six months, staring from January 2017.

Last week, US oil rigs increased by 8 rigs to a total of 617 compared to 609 oil rigs the previous week, according to a report by Baker Hughes.