17.12.201816:02:00UTC+00Oil Futures Settle At Over 14-month Low

After edging up marginally earlier in the session, crude oil futures tumbled and settled at over 14-month low on Monday, on demand growth concerns.

Concerns about a likely fall in crude demand, Qatar's exit from OPEC and Iran's unwillingness to commit to an across the board production cut weighed down the commodity.

Crude oil futures for January ended down $1.32, or 2.6%, at $49.88 a barrel, the lowest settlement since early October 2017.

On Friday, crude oil futures ended down $1.38, or 2.6%, $51.20 a barrel.

Reports about a jump in crude stocks at the U.S. storage hub last week raise concerns that the Energy Information Administration's weekly oil report this Wednesday may show a jump in U.S. crude inventory last week.

A report from Genscape showed that U.S. crude inventories at the storage hub of Cushing, Oklahoma increased by over 1 million barrels last week.

A recent report from Energy Information Administration expects a surge in U.S. shale oil production.

Slower pace of industrial production and retail sales growth in China, weak eurozone economic data, the European Central Bank Mario Draghi's warning that the "balance of risks is moving to the downside," and the lowering of GDP and inflation forecasts for the eurozone has raised concerns that energy demand is likely to drop notably in the near to medium term.