Major crude producers, including the U.S. and Russia, continued to ramp up output in the second half of 2018, a factor which helped spark the downtrend in oil prices seen since October. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts American output will rise to 12.1 million barrels a day in 2019, up 1.2 million barrels a day from the previous year. "News of record production by Russia and the U.S. along with Iraqi exports surging weighed on prices," said consulting firm Global Risk Management in a note.