Brent crude has hit a three-year low, but is still on course for a 10-year high in the third quarter of 2018.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for the global supply of oil, fell to a six-year lows of $US8.11 per barrel, as the US Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday.
The US energy department reported that the crude price fell from $US9.60 per barrel to $US7.10 per barrel on Thursday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced they would cut their output for a second time in two months.
Brent is a key benchmark for oil traders because it is used by many oil companies to measure oil production and prices.
The drop in crude prices, which was not as sharp as a two-year-low seen in March, was likely due to the US presidential election, the Opec-OECD meeting in Qatar and the US’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
The Brent price is now around $US10 per million British thermal units, which is below the $US15 per million Btu benchmark in the global market.
But the price of Brent has declined by 10 per cent since the beginning of 2017, according to a report by Bloomberg.
In addition, the Brent crude price dropped to $NZ1.60 a barrel in February 2018, when oil prices were around $NZ4.10.
Brent has been trading at around $10 per US barrel for the past two months, according the Bloomberg report.
Brent oil, a key oil benchmark for many oil and gas companies, fell on Wednesday from a peak of $NZ9.30 per barrel in August 2016.
But, in the past, Brent crude prices have surged, hitting a peak in March 2017, when Brent crude fell to $AU1.20 per barrel.
Brent, which trades for around $20 per US a barrel, is expected to continue falling until the end of 2019.