Brent falls to $53

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The price of Brent crude oil in the course of a trading session on London's ICE for the first time since early December 2016 went below $53 per barrel.

The price for crude oil futures contract for May 2017 shipment went down in the course of a trading session by more than 5 percent, i.e. $52.96 per barrel. According to information as of 10:55 pm Moscow time Brent crude was trading at the level of $53.19 per barrel, Lenta.ru reports.

The price of WTI crude oil has also slumped to the lowest level since December last year, the fall exceeded 5 percent. As of 10:55 pm Moscow time it was trading at $50.33 per barrel.

Oil prices declined after US Department of Energy reported on crude stocks in the country. For the week from 24th February to 3rd March they increased by 8.22 mln barrels up to 528.4 mln barrels whereas the analysts expected increase by 1.97 mln barrels.