The price drop marked the first time since December 2003 that Brent prices have slipped below the $30 per barrel mark, the Wall Street Journal said.
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U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February rose 72 cents to $31.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Stocks fell around the world as a 5 percent slump in oil sent markets reeling after Chinese shares tumbled into a bear market.
In London trade, the Brent contract for March delivery closed at US$28.94 a barrel on Friday, a loss of US$2.09 from Thursday to the lowest level since February 2004.
Net US crude oil imports rose by 0.67 MMbpd to ~8.2 MMbpd in the week ended January 8.
Global oil prices were trading lower on Friday at slightly above $30 a barrel as the market braced for the new Iranian supply.
Brent and USA crude oil were on track to close lower for a third consecutive week, down roughly 20 percent from their 2016 highs.
“Lower oil prices have been a sentiment leader for the recent market selloff and will again be in focus with Iranian sanctions expected to be lifted next week”, Ric Spooner, a chief analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, said in a note Friday. The contract hit a 12-year low of $29.93 earlier this week.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made a decision to keep crude production pumping at current level in the already oversupplied market.
Oil and gas projects worth $380 billion have now been postponed or canceled since 2014 as companies slash costs to survive the oil price crash, including $170 billion of projects planned between 2016 and 2020, according to a new report from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
On top of the potential addition of an average of one million barrels a day of crude supply, the country is also estimated to have more than 30 million barrels of oil stored offshore that is ready to hit the global market immediately after sanctions are removed.
The oil price collapse has hammered currencies from commodity-producing nations and spooked financial markets as investors worry about the health of the global economy. The latest thing to drag down oil is the prospect of Iran quickly returning some significant volumes of oil to the market.
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“Breaking through the pound a litre price point for both petrol and diesel was clearly a welcome landmark, but it looks as though there is more to come”, said Simon Williams, RAC fuel spokesman, speaking to Sky News.
