Investing.com - Oil prices were slightly lower in European trade on Monday, as lingering concerns over strong shale output growth in the U.S. remained on investors' minds.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude August contract was at $44.16 a barrel by 4:55AM ET (0855GMT), down 7 cents, or around 0.2%. It touched its lowest since June 28 at $43.78 on Friday.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for September delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London dipped 5 cents, or about 0.1%, to $46.66 a barrel, after touching a two-week low of $46.28 in the prior session.
WTI lost $1.81, or about 3.9%, last week, while Brent fell $2.06, or roughly 4.2%, their sixth such loss in seven weeks.
U.S. drillers added seven oil rigs last week, energy services company Baker Hughes announced on Friday, marking a 24th week of increases out of the last 25
That brings the total count up to 763, the most since April 2015, implying that further gains in domestic production are ahead.
The report came after U.S. government data revealed that total domestic crude production rose by 88,000 barrels a day to around 9.34 million barrels at the end of last week.
The increase in U.S. drilling activity and shale production has mostly offset efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market.
In May, OPEC and some non-OPEC producers extended a deal to cut 1.8 million barrels per day in supply until March 2018.
So far, the production-cut agreement has had little impact on global inventory levels due to rising supply from producers not participating in the accord, such as Libya and Nigeria, and a relentless increase in U.S. shale oil output.
A ministerial committee monitoring the pact will not discuss the possibility of further cuts at its regular meeting on July 24, OPEC's secretary-general said in comments carried by Russia's Interfax news agency on Sunday.
In the week ahead, market participants will eye fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products on Tuesday and Wednesday to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
Meanwhile, investors will keep an eye out for monthly reports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties and the International Energy Agency to assess global supply and demand levels.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for August was down 1.3 cents, or roughly 0.9%, to $1.489 a gallon, while August heating oil was little changed at $1.447 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for August delivery rose 2.9 cents to $2.893 per million British thermal units.
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