MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Brent crude ICE generic futures stood at $36.33 per barrel, as of 12:00 GMT, while WTI crude reached $34.37 per barrel by 11:55 GMT on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Earlier in the day, the prices had dipped below the 2004 minimum, to $36.08 per barrel and $34.32 per barrel respectively.
The continued fall of oil prices has been attributed to Saudi Arabia-led OPEC's unwillingness to cut production out of fear of losing market share. As storage capacities continue to fill, crude prices could plummet to around $20 per barrel, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup banks said last week.
After the US Federal Reserve put up its interest rate to 0.25-0.5 percent last week, a strengthening dollar has also contributed to the slump.
Brent crude prices plunged from $115 per barrel to $48.5 per barrel between June 2014 and January 2015.