Oil prices dip to lowest level in five months

Global oil prices dipped below the $50 per barrel mark on Thursday and fell to their lowest levels since November. 

Analysts blamed rising global crude oil levels and high inventories for the falling prices, with high supplies offsetting the output cuts instituted by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last fall. 

Crude oil brent prices — the global benchmark — were at $49.45 a barrel on Thursday morning. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, fell to $46.47, its lowest level since at least November. 

{mosads}OPEC agreed on Nov. 30 to cut its output by 1.8 million barrels per day for the first six months of the year, a move that led to a 25 percent gain in oil prices.

Producers outside of OPEC picked up the pace, however, leading to oversupply issues like those that drove prices down on Thursday.

Reuters reports that OPEC is expected to extend its output restrictions when officials meet later this month, meaning the low prices could quickly begin rising again.

OPEC’s production cut in November was the first time the consortium agreed to limit its output since 2008. The limits were part of a bid to reverse a global decline in oil prices that began in 2014, the symptom of a supply glut.