Crude Oil Prices Edge Lower in Cautious Trade

Investing.com – Crude oil prices edged lower on Monday, despite support from recent comments by Saudi officials, as traders were still assessing U.S. production levels.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate March contract was down 9 cents or about 0.14% at $63.22 a barrel by 10:00 a.m. ET (14:00 GMT).

Elsewhere, for March delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London lost 8 cents or about 0.12% at $68.53 a barrel.

Prices found support after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers have a consensus that they should continue cooperating on production after the end of 2018, when their current agreement on production cuts expires.

Falih added that this might mean a new form of deal rather than continuing the same supply cuts that have boosted prices in recent months.

The deal to cut oil output by 1.8 million barrels a day (bpd) was adopted last winter by OPEC, Russia and nine other global producers. The agreement was due to end in March 2018, having already been extended once.

But gains by the commodity were capped after the International Energy Agency (IEA), in its monthly report on Friday, warned that rapidly increasing production in the U.S. would offset a raft of positive factors supporting oil prices including ongoing OPEC output cuts.

Analysts and traders have recently warned that U.S. shale oil producers could ramp up production in the coming weeks as they look to take advantage of higher prices, potentially derailing an OPEC-led effort to curb excess supply.

Elsewhere, eased 0.08% to $1.866 a gallon, while inched up 0.06% to $3.186 per million British thermal units.

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