AKIPRESS.COM - Oil prices continued to seek a bottom on Tuesday amid worries about growing US supplies, with benchmark Brent crude hitting a four-year low and nearing a test below the psychologically important $80 a barrel mark, reports Reuters.

"The theme remains the same in oil: We have no meaningful way to cut production and the multi-year lows in prices that we're hitting are feeding the hunt for even lower bottoms," said Gene McGillian, senior analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

Brent was down $1.36 cents, or 1.7 per cent, to $81 a barrel by 1703 GMT, after falling earlier to $80.46, the lowest level since September 2010.

US oil's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid 30 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $77.10 a barrel, after a session low at $76.42.

The Reuters poll forecast crude stocks rose 300,000 barrels on average last week.

"You have suggestions of an anaemic demand story for oil last week," said James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas.

A strong dollar initially weighed on oil as the greenback hit a seven-year high against the yen. By midmorning though, the dollar was down against a basket of currencies, but crude prices continued to slide.