Benchmark Crude Price Skids on Report of Overproduction

Oil prices fell Thursday amid renewed fears that overproduction by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will worsen a global excess that has weakened the market in recent months.

West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark U.S. crude for immediate delivery, lost 37 cents to $15.31 in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In U.S. Gulf and Coast spot trading, where oil is sold to the highest bidder, West Texas Intermediate dropped 25 cents to $15.40 a 42-gallon barrel.

While oil industry experts discounted the significance of reports that OPEC production surged to 20 million barrels a day last week, they said there is no question that the 13-nation cartel continues to produce far more oil daily than the market demands.

Marshall Thomas, president of PetroMar Associates in Brick Township, N.J., said total OPEC crude output has in recent weeks consistently been about 18.8 million barrels a day, excluding condensates, or liquefied petroleum gas, which have been the subject of disputes between cartel members.

That is about a million barrels a day more than the worldwide demand for OPEC oil, generally thought to be 17.5 million to 18 million barrels a day.