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(Bloomberg) — Oil traded below $33 a barrel as U.S. drillers cut the number of active rigs to the lowest level in more than six years amid a global glut.

Futures slipped as much as 0.8 percent in New York after posting the biggest weekly gain since August on Friday. Rigs targeting oil fell by 13 to 400, the lowest since December 2009, according to Baker Hughes Inc. That is the 10th week of declines. Eni SpA, Italy’s biggest producer, on Friday reported a fourth-quarter loss, missing analysts’ expectations as the slide in crude prices deepened.

Oil is down 12 percent this year on speculation a worldwide surplus will be prolonged amid the outlook for increased exports from Iran and U.S. stockpiles that are at the highest level in more than eight decades. A proposal to freeze output by Saudi Arabia and Russia is achievable and prices my rise to as high as $50 a barrel by the end of the year, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told CNBC.

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery fell as much as 25 cents to $32.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $32.59 at 7:56 a.m. Hong Kong time. The contract lost 29 cents to close at $32.78 on Friday. Total volume traded was about 62 percent below the 100-day average. Prices rose 11 percent last week.

Brent for April settlement, which expires Monday, was 18 cents lower at $34.92 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract dropped 19 cents to close at $35.10 on Friday. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $2.34 to WTI. The more-active May contract was down 19 cents at $35.25.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Hong Kong at bsharples@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net Jake Lloyd-Smith