Oil prices edged lower on Monday but still held near nine-week highs, supported by robust US jobs data last week and a slight fall in the US drill rig count, even as rising output from Opec capped crude markets.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures were down 6 cents, or 0.11 per cent, at US$52.36 a barrel at 0309 GMT.
US crude futures were down 7 cents, or 0.14 per cent at $49.51 per barrel.
Prices for both benchmarks have been on the rise, holding near their highest since late May, when oil producers led by Opec extended a deal to reduce output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of next March.
"Crude oil prices rose strongly as investors viewed (U.S. jobs) data as a positive sign for oil demand in the United States ... A small fall in the number of drill rigs operating in the U.S. also supported prices," ANZ bank said in a note.
US employers added an above-forecast 209,000 workers in July and raised wages, the US labour department said on Friday in its monthly jobs report.
US drillers cut one oil rig in the week to August 4, bringing the total count down to 765, the energy services firm Baker Hughes also said on Friday.
Still, the US rig count has been trending upwards since mid-May, and oil production in the United States hit 9.43 million bpd in the week to July 28, the highest level since August 2015.
Michael McCarthy, the chief market strategist at CMC Markets, said, supportive news such as big drawdown in US supplies would be needed to push US WTI prices above $50 a barrel.
"This week, weekly data out of the US should be really influential ... if [US daily production] makes further gains given the high prices, I think that would be a catalyst for downside news," Mr McCarthy said.
Meanwhile, Opec's crude oil exports in July rose to a record high of 26.11 million bpd, most of which came from Nigeria, according to a report by Thomson Reuters Oil Research last week.
Libya, though, one of the Opec members who has been exempt from the Opec-led production cuts, was facing a gradual shutdown of its 270,000-bpd Sharara oil field after the closure of a control room.
Officials from a joint Opec and non-Opec technical committee are set to meet in Abu Dhabi on Monday and on Tuesday to discuss ways to boost compliance with their supply reduction agreement.
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Skewed figures
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
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Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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