Oil slumped to three-month lows under $47 a barrel today after a report showed hefty crude imports further inflated bulging stockpiles in the United States.
US light sweet crude for June delivery dropped as low as $46.88 a barrel in early Asian trade.
Earlier it was down 27 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $46.98 a barrel, deepening a $1.72 fall that followed Wednesday's data. Brent crude oil fell 24 cents to $47.91, after sliding more than $1.00 yesterday.
Oil prices have now tumbled more than $11 a barrel - almost 20 per cent - since their all-time high of $58.28 in early April, depressed by the relentless rise in US stockpiles to a six-year high and the steady liquidation of speculative fund positions.
Commercial crude inventories in the world's top consumer climbed 4.3 million barrels last week to 334 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.
Stocks have risen 13 times in the last 14 weeks to their highest since July 1999, when US oil prices were nearly $30 a barrel below current values.
Although the headline numbers sent prices lower, some analysts saw a bottom forming as they said a month-long fund sell-off had run its course and US refineries would soon boost operating rates after maintenance, eating into stocks.