On Friday, oil futures fell sharply after Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) lowered its forecast for oil prices amid existing concerns about the oversaturation of the world's reserves.
The influential investment bank on Wall Street - Goldman Sachs, lowered its price forecast for US crude in 2016 to $ 45 a barrel from $ 57, while Brent oil - to $ 49.50 from $ 62, citing excess oil supplies and problems in China's economy.
"The oil market is saturated with more than we expected, and we expect that the surplus will continue in 2016", - said the bank in a note to investors.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude oil for October delivery fell on Friday by $ 1.29, or 2.81%, to $ 44.63 for a barrel.
Reduced price is constrained amid signals that US oil drillers cut production after the summer collapse in prices. The research group - Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) said on Friday that the number of oil drilling rigs in the US fell by 10 last week, to 652, declining for the second consecutive week.
In the last week, crude oil futures, traded in New York, lost $ 1.19, or 3.08%, as fears about the health of the global economy added concerns that global oil saturation may last longer than expected.
Oil prices are under strong selling pressure in recent months as continuous concerns about the high level of supply in world markets has a negative impact on the stock.
The oil offer on the world market is still ahead of demand due to the boom in shale oil in US and after the adoption last year of OPEC's decision not to cut production.
On the ICE exchange in London, Brent crude for October delivery fell 75 cents, or 1.53% and closed Friday's trading at $ 48.14 for a barrel. For the entire week, London Brent crude lost $ 1.13, or 2.96%, amid fears that China will lead the global economic downturn.
Meanwhile, the spread between oil Brent and WTI was $ 3.51 for a barrel at the close of trading on Friday, compared to $ 2.97 on Thursday.
Data released on Sunday showed that industrial production in China increased at an annual rate of 6.1% in August, while there was expected a growth of 6.4%.
China is the world's second largest oil consumer after the United States, significantly affecting the level of demand.
The slowdown of the Chinese economy and volatility in global markets triggered fresh uncertainty about whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the following week.
Markets were confused when suddenly on August 11 China devalued the Yuan, giving rise to speculations that the economy could slow more rapidly than expected.