NEW YORK, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices continued to fall on Friday, as investors grew concerned over rising global supply and U.S. oil waivers from Iran sanctions.
Fears of oversupply from the world's major oil producers cast a pall over the market. U.S. crude oil inventories build up for a sixth straight week, posting an increase of 3.2 million barrels last week, according to latest weekly report of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Adding to the negative impact, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) increased oil production in October to 33.31 million barrels per day (bpd), the highest by OPEC since 2016.
Data showed that Russia pumped 11.41 million bpd in October, setting a record high over the last three decades, according to Russia's Ministry of Energy.
On Nov. 5, Washington will reimpose sanctions against Iran, which had been lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.
The United States will grant temporary waivers to eight "jurisdictions" from the sanctions on Iranian energy imports next week, according to Pompeo. Analysts believed that such moves increased uncertainty for the global oil market.
The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery dropped 0.55 U.S. dollar to settle at 63.14 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and the Brent crude for December delivery lost 0.08 dollar to 72.83 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
