Oil prices fall below $30 a barrel for first time in twelve years

US crude oil prices fell below $30 a barrel briefly, for the first time in twelve years, on the back of growing concerns over the health of the Chinese economy and a supply glut from the oil producing countries.

China's growth slowing adds concerns about demand from one of the largest consumers of oil, while supply concerns have been growing as Iran and US continue to follow through on the nuclear agreement, which will likely see the latter remove sanctions imposed on import of oil from the country. 

Oil has been dragged lower by a glut, China's weakening economy and stock market turmoil, as well as the strong dollar, which makes it more expensive for those using other currencies to buy oil.

"The momentum is too strong to the bearish side, even if fundamentally nothing has changed," said Dominick Chirichella, a senior partner at Energy Management Institute.

US crude prices fell as low as $29.93 before settling down 3.1% at $30.44 a barrel. Benchmark Brent settled down 2.2% at $30.86 a barrel. US crude prices have fallen 17% in 2016 alone.

There seems to be no cap on the downside in sight, with some analysts predicting that prices will only even out after they touch about $20 a barrel, while other peg the lower level to go down to nearly $10 a barrel, a Reuters report has said.