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1st LD Writethru: Oil prices drop amid supply glut worries

Xinhua, August 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Oil prices fell Monday as traders worried that global supplies exceed the demand.

The downbeat economic data from Japan dragged the market down. Japan's gross domestic product shrank by an annualized 1.6 percent in the second quarter of 2015, contracting for the first time in three quarters, government data showed Monday.

The global oversupply is currently running at 2 million barrels a day, according to a report released by Goldman Sachs.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' crude production increased by 101,000 barrels per day to an average of 31.51 million barrels per day in July, according to the group's monthly oil market report released last week.

Traders also anticipated more Iran crude would come to the already well-supplied oil market as the sanctions against the country would be lifted.

The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery moved down 63 cents to settle at 41.87 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery decreased 45 cents to close at 48.74 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange. Endite