Oil extends selloff, WTI crude drops below $45-a-barrel

Oil prices fell for the second consecutive day with both the crude benchmarks down nearly 2% in Asian trade Tuesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for delivery in February CLG5, -2.91%  traded at $44.96 a barrel, down $0.71 in the Globex electronic session. Brent crude LCOG5, -2.78%   for February delivery on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $1.51, or 3.1%, to $45.92 a barrel.

Oil prices had lost around 5% on Monday alone, extending the selloff that has gripped oil markets since mid-2014, as sell-side analysts slashed price forecasts and warned of a prolonged glut in global oil markets that will extend well into 2015.