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 Brent and U.S. crude are near their lowest since April 2009,
having fallen for seven straight weeks on a growing supply glut.
The February Brent contract was down $1.33 at $48.78 a barrel at
1220 GMT. U.S. crude oil for February was down $1.20 at $47.16 per
barrel.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs cut their three-month forecasts for Brent
to $42 a barrel from $80 and for the U.S. West Texas Intermediate
contract to $41 from $70 a barrel. The bank cut its 2015 Brent
forecast to $50.40 a barrel from $83.75 and U.S. crude to $47.15 a
barrel from $73.75.
Despite declining investments in U.S. shale oil, the main driver in
the current supply glut, production will take longer to come down,
Goldman said in a report.
"To keep all capital sidelined and curtail investment in shale until
the market has rebalanced, we believe prices need to stay lower for
longer," the analysts said.
Speaking to Reuters Global Oil Forum, Commerzbank analyst Carsten
Fritsch said he expected output cuts to start impacting prices in
the second half of 2015.
"At some point market participants will realize that a lot of oil
will leave the market if prices stay low," Fritsch said.
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As OPEC's November decision not to curtail production in the face of
falling prices piles pressure on some group members, Venezuelan
President Nicolas Maduro met Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Salman in
Riyadh on Sunday as part of a diplomatic tour in the Gulf to discuss
falling oil prices.
However, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has said it
won't support prices by cutting production and ignored calls from
smaller OPEC members, including Venezuela, to react to falling oil
prices at the cartel's November meeting.
On Saturday Iran vowed to help Venezuela stem the oil price fall.
(Additional reporting by Jacob Pederson; Editing by Michael Urquhart
and David Evans)
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