Oil falls below US$35 in New York for first time since 2009

London

OIL fell below US$35 a barrel in New York for the first time since 2009 as Iran reiterated its pledge to boost crude exports, bolstering speculation Opec (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) members will exacerbate the global oversupply.

Futures fell as much as 2.7 per cent to US$34.67 a barrel in New York, the lowest since Feb 19, 2009. They lost almost 11 per cent last week, the biggest drop in a year. There's "absolutely no chance" Iran will delay its plan to increase shipments even as prices decline, said Amir Hossein Zamaninia, the nation's deputy oil minister for international and commerce affairs. Speculators in the US have raised bearish bets to an all-time high.

Oil slumped last week to levels last seen during the global financial crisis, while speculators increased bets on falling US crude prices to an all-time high after Opec effectively abandoned production limits. The supply glut will persist at least until late 2016 as demand growth slows and Opec shows "renewed determination" to maximise output, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)…