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Leading members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are maintaining output, while Citigroup Inc. predicts crude may slide to as low as $32/bbl, a level last seen during the world financial crisis.

October U.S. crude was down 87 cents or 2.1% at $40.44 per barrel having at one time touched a low of 6 ½ years at $39.86 per barrel during the day. At the same time the global benchmark Brent fell 2.5% down to $45.46 per barrel.

“It made no sense to me that crude oil hung around $60 per barrel a few weeks earlier this year“.

US crude inventories continued to rise last week, as imports rose and shale production fell slower than expected, despite falling prices.

U.S. September crude was down $1.85 at $40.77 a barrel at 11:41 a.m. EDT (1541 GMT), having fallen to $40.60, the lowest front-month price since March 2009. It said markets will be tracking the eurozone, U.S., and Chinese flash PMI data on Friday very closely.