Investing.com – Crude futures settled lower on Monday, amid renewed oversupply jitters, following an uptick in U.S. output to a two-year high while concerns over Opec’s wavering commitment to production cuts continued as a meeting of Opec and non-Opec members got underway.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for September delivery fell 19 cents to settle at $48.39 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent lost $0.11 to trade at $52.31 a barrel.
Fresh from posting a weekly loss, crude futures showed little sign of a rebound, as data showed U.S. production rose to a two-year high while a rebound in Libyan oil output also added to oversupply concerns.
U.S. weekly oil production hit 9.43 million bpd in the week to July 28, the highest since August 2015 and up 12 percent from its most recent low in June last year.
In Libya, Output at the Sharara field, the country’s largest oil field, was returning to normal after a brief disruption by armed protesters in the coastal city of Zawiya, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said.
The downbeat data comes amid a two-day meeting of Opec and non-Opec members in Abu Dhabi on Monday, as they seek to reaffirm their commitment to increase compliance with the deal to curb production.
Opec output hit a 2017 high of 33 million bpd in July, up 90,000 bpd from the previous month, a Reuters survey showed last week.
In May, Opec and non-Opec members agreed to extend production cuts for a period of nine months until March, but stuck to production cuts of 1.8 million bpd agreed in November last year.
Some analysts believe oil prices will continue to ebb and flow, as investors await the outcome of the compliance meeting.
“Spot prices, we feel, are going to be rather choppy as we await the decision from the OPEC compliance meeting,” said Tariq Zahir, a managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors.