MOSCOW (Sputnik) — November futures on Brent oil were at $47.98 per barrel at 05:22 GMT, having gone down 0.7 percent. October futures on the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude decreased by 0.89 percent down to $45.88 per barrel.
The decrease follows the Friday's report of the Baker Hughes energy service company showing the increase in the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States by 11 to 508.
Oil prices have plunged over the past two years from $115 per barrel in June 2014 to less than $30 per barrel in January 2016. Prices and investments picked up amid Nigerian, Canadian and Venezuelan output outages and growing demand in May, reaching a peak of over $50 per barrel in early June. Crude prices are currently fluctuating between $40-50 per barrel.
