Global benchmark Brent crude oil price dips to 11-year low

European benchmark Brent crude slumped to an 11-year low on Monday as oil prices resumed their slide in an oversupplied global market.

Brent North Sea crude hit $36.05 a barrel, the lowest level since May 2004. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped to $34.12 a barrel-the lowest since February 2009. Crude prices continued to slide as an ongoing supply glut showed no sign of easing. Figures released Friday showed a rise in the number of US rigs drilling, increasing worries that output will continue apace.

This added to "the already prevailing negative sentiments in the market due to the build-up in inventory", said Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Asia-Pacific Oil and gas practice at professional services organisation EY. Gupta added that the lifting of the US export bans could negatively impact "long-term futures prices".

US lawmakers last week lifted a 40-year ban on oil exports, a historic shift, even though analysts say the world supply glut is still the main driver of prices in the short term. Prices have fallen by almost one fifth since December 4 when the OPEC oil producers' group decided against limiting production, despite tepid demand and the supply glut.

Oil has sunk more than 60 per cent from above $100 in mid-2014. Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose economy has been hit hard by falling oil prices, withdrew support for its embattled currency on Monday and the manat plunged by nearly a third against the greenback.