Oil prices at new 6.5-year lows; Brent and WTI fall below $45 and $40 respectively

Oil prices have fallen to a fresh 6.5-year low on 24 August, amid continued worries of high global oil supply while investors expect the demand from China to remain weak due to its growth slowdown. Brent crude has declined below $45 per barrel, while WTI crude has come down below $40.

Brent crude is down 2.38% at $44.38 (£28.26, €38.96) per barrel as at 4.15am GMT, while WTI crude declined 2.92% at $39.47. The benchmark prices have been the lowest in about 6.5 years, according to Reuters. The prior lower price levels are $42.59 for Brent and $39.44 for WTI, recorded in March 2009.

"Supply-side news continues to dominate the market...Fears of surging Iranian oil are likely to increase further after Iran's oil minister stated the country had plans to raise oil production at any cost," economists and ANZ bank said in a research note.

Iran's oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, earlier said a meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is necessary and may be effective to stabilise oil prices, oil ministry news agency Shana reported. Algeria also voiced the importance of such an emergency meeting. However, other Opec nations are seemingly not interested. Nations, including biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, are sticking to their plan to keep production high to maintain their market share.

Oil prices have been falling for eight consecutive weeks because of ample supplies of crude while the global economic growth is slowing down, impacting demand. Crude prices have declined about 60% since August 2014.