Investing.com - Oil was sharply lower Thursday on top of steep losses overnight as U. S. crude stocks jumped.
U.S. crude shed $1.31, or 2.61%, to $48.97. The last time it traded below $50 was in December.
Brent crude was off $1.27, or 2.39%, at $51.84 at 08:00 ET.
Oil settled down 5% overnight as the Energy Information Administration reported a rise of 8.209 million barrels in U.S. crude stocks.
That was well above the forecast of an increase of 1.967 million barrels.
Oil prices slumped despite good progress by major producers in implementing agreed output cuts.
Kuwait's oil minister said Wednesday OPEC producers had exceeded their target cut of 1.2 million barrels a day in February.
He estimated non-OPEC producer compliance with cuts of some 558,000 barrels a day at 50-60%.
Investors will be looking to Baker Hughes rig count data on Friday.