NEW YORK: Global oil prices extended a months-long rout into bear market territory on Friday, with Brent notching a new 27-month low as the dollar spiked following upbeat US employment data and further signs of undiminished crude supply.

The rallying US dollar has re-emerged as a key driver for commodity prices in recent months, making raw materials more costly for most importers and reviving a once-popular spread trade. It reached a more than four-year peak on Friday after a report showing the US economy created more jobs than expected last month, putting unemployment at a six-year low.

Brent for November delivery fell $1.22 to $92.20 by 12:57 p.m. EDT (1657 GMT), after earlier touching $91.48 a barrel, its lowest since June 2012. It has fallen by 21 percent since June, when it climbed near $116 following the incursion of Islamist militants into Iraq.

US November crude fell 85 cents to $90.16 a barrel. It has lost around $2 this week, its steepest weekly fall in a month. It hit $88.18 in the previous session, its lowest point since April 2013.

“The surging dollar is the primary driver pressing us back down again,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

He also cited rising production from Russian oil fields emerging from maintenance, and a report from this week showing OPEC production hitting two-year highs of 31 million barrels per day (bpd)in September.

The spread between the front month Brent and US crude futures contracts stood at around $2, after reaching its narrowest since August 2013 at $1.42 a barrel earlier in the session.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a note sent to clients on Wednesday that $90 per barrel was a reliable floor for Brent in the medium term, also citing the strength of the dollar and the mismatch between supply and demand..

The Brent crude benchmark is set to end the week down for the fourth week in five and has fallen more than 15 percent this year.

A cut in output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could support oil prices, but the group is not due to meet until Nov. 27 and there have been no signals that it will take action before then.

Although OPEC member Iran has called for supply cuts, other core members are betting that winter demand will revive the market.

Saudi Arabia, which in the past has unilaterally cut output to support prices, lowered its official oil sale prices (OSPs) to Asian customers on Wednesday in a move seen as a strong sign the world’s top exporter is trying to compete for market share and keep markets well supplied.