LONDON: Oil fell to a four-year low under $83 a barrel on Thursday, as growing concerns over the global economy and abundant oil supply stretched a four-month rout.
U.S. crude inventories rose 8.9 million barrels to 370.57 million barrels, Energy Information Administration data showed on Thursday, far higher than analysts' expectations for a build of 2.8 million barrels.
Brent crude for November delivery dropped to $82.60 a barrel in early trading, the lowest since November 2010, and was down 30 cents at $83.48 a barrel by 1510 GMT.
U.S. crude was down 80 cents at $80.98 a barrel, after falling below $80 for the first time since June 2012 to a low of $79.78.
"The market still seems very bearish," said Eugen Weinberg, analyst at Commerbank in Frankfurt. "And despite us seeing a floor around $80, even this floor might come into danger if we don't have any signal from OPEC any time soon."
Global benchmark Brent has lost more than 28 percent since June on slow demand and abundant supply. Losses have accelerated in October on signals that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has no plan to cut output.
Assets which depend on economic growth, such as shares and oil, have been hit by a raft of weak indicators from Europe at a time when other big economies, including China, Japan and Brazil face their own hardships.
At the same time, the U.S. Federal Reserve is set to wind down later this month the asset purchase programme that has boosted markets over the past two years.
Brent has fallen from a high of $115.71 reached in June - a level reached on concern that Islamic State's insurgency into Iraq would disrupt its supplies - and well below the $100-mark until recently seen as a level OPEC members would defend.
Global economic worries deepened this week after China's consumer inflation fell to near five-year lows and U.S. producer prices declined for the first time in more than a year. The International Energy Agency also cut its global oil demand growth forecast for 2015.
Some analysts tempered the price drop with caution.
"The last time prices were this low, the global economy was in the midst of the great recession, and demand for oil is certainly much stronger now," Thomas Pugh, an analyst at Capital Economics, told Reuters Global Oil Forum.
"We are really in a hyped downward spiral, where any bear item is overly emphasised," analysts at JBC Energy said in a report.
Venezuela has called for an emergency meeting of OPEC - ahead of its next scheduled gathering on Nov. 27. OPEC has yet to respond officially to the request, although OPEC sources have said such a meeting is unlikely.
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