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By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell below $49 a barrel on Friday and was on course for its seventh straight month of declines, the longest such bear run on record as a supply glut showed no signs of easing with OPEC increasing production in January. Benchmark Brent crude prices have kept within a band of $45-$50 a barrel since hitting a six-year low on Jan. 13, but analysts have not ruled out further declines as global inventories continue to rise. Supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose in January to 30.37 million barrels per day (bpd), a Reuters survey showed, a sign key members are standing firm in refusing to prop up prices by cutting output. Data this week also showed U.S. crude oil inventories had reached their highest levels since the 1930s.

By Ernest Scheyder WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) - Chevron Corp , the second-largest U.S. oil producer, reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as sales of chemicals, lubricants and other refined products helped offset plunging crude prices . Royal Dutch Shell , a so-called international oil company like Chevron, said on Thursday it would cut its spending over the next three years by $15 billion. Taking similar steps, Chevron executives slashed the company's 2015 capital budget by 13 percent to $35 billion. "We enter 2015 with the financial strength to meet the challenges of a volatile crude price environment and with significant efforts under way to manage to a lower cost structure," Chief Executive Officer John Watson said in a statement.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight was arrested on suspicion of murder early Friday, hours after the rap music figure turned himself in to authorities in a hit-and-run wreck that killed a man and injured another near Los Angeles.