Oil Market Slides After Saudi Aramco Cuts Price of Its Benchmark Crude

Oil prices tumbled Monday as the world's biggest oil company cut its official selling price in response to rising supplies and slumping demand.

The move by Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, sent oil prices tumbling on the futures market on Monday morning. The company on Sunday cut its official price to Asia to the lowest level in 27 months, reflecting lackluster demand, particularly from China's sluggish economy, Bloomberg reported.

The international benchmark crude, Brent, was trading more than 3.5% lower at about $76 a barrel on Monday morning. The U.S. grade, West Texas Intermediate, was down about 4% to less than $71 a barrel.

Oil had ticked higher last week, driven by tensions in the Red Sea. And in late September oil prices had flirted with the $100 mark. Disruptions to the oil market have been somewhat muted as the U.S. produced a record amount of oil and gas last year.

The average price for a gallon of gasoline nationally was at $3.07 a gallon on Monday, according to AAA, down from $3.11 a week ago and $3.28 a year ago. And more than half of U.S. states have gasoline selling below $3.