Falling crude oil prices hit a five year low of less than US$60 a barrel on Thursday as fresh raw supply pushed average selling rates further down.

The intense pressure to sell more crude oil may be far from over.

Intermediate crude in west Texas dipped 2.6% to $59.36, its lowest since July 2009. Brent crude oil fell 1.4% to $63.34.

Like Us on Facebook

The cut in crude prices followed an announcement from Saudi Arabia, the world's second largest oil producer after the United States, that it would most probably not cut production to help shore up prices.

In a separate announcement, Bank of America predicted that crude oil prices could drop to $50 a barrel next year as North American supply, coupled with a bump in supply from Libya and Iraq, hits markets already brimming with supply.

West Texas crude reached a peak this year of about $107 a barrel in June. Prices are now down about 44%.

A senior analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, Tom Kloza, said the industry is going appreciatively lower, adding prices have not found a bottom yet and could go as low as $45 this month.

Crude's slide drove down futures on gasoline by 1.3% to $1.62 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which can spell more relief at the pump for motorists.

Across the U.S., gasoline now sells $2.62 a gallon on average, down 30 cents from just a month ago and 64 cents below last Dec. 11. The rates will most likely come down to $2.50 or less a gallon before year's end.

An analyst said the drop in prices represents a line that, now crossed, will keep oil company executives not sleeping at night, as motorists count the cold hard cash they have got left after each fill-up.

"And in North Dakota and Texas, oil workers are hunting down the proverbial Grinch, hoping they'll still have a Christmas worth celebrating," says Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at gasbuddy.com.