Oil prices fall on supply glut, strong dollar

Oil prices decreased on Friday amid a global supply glut and a stronger U.S. dollar.

Global oil demand growth is slowing at a faster pace than initially predicted, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its September report published on Tuesday.

"For 2016, a gain of 1.3 mb/d is expected - a downgrade of 0.1 mb/d on our previous forecast due to a more pronounced 3Q16 slowdown. Momentum eases further to 1.2 mb/d in 2017 as underlying macroeconomic conditions remain uncertain," said the report.

Moreover, U.S. inventories of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 4.6 million barrels in the week to Sept. 9, versus analysts' expectations of an increase of 1.5 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 567,000 barrels last week, also beating market estimates, according to the EIA.

Oil prices were also under pressure as a stronger U.S. dollar dented investor sentiment, which made the dollar-dominated oil less attractive for holders of other currencies.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.84 percent at 96.088 in late trading on Friday, the highest in nearly two weeks.

The West Texas Intermediate for October delivery erased 0.88 U.S. dollars to settle at 43.03 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery lost 0.82 dollars to close at 45.77 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

Source : XINHUA