Crude reverses early gains in Asia with NKorea missile test noted - Sean Seshadri

 U.S. crude gave up early gains in Asia on Monday and fell following the 9th ballistic missile test by North Korea this year ahead of a day with China, the U.S. and U.S. on public holidays.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude's July contract fell 0.36% to $49.62 a barrel. Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for July eased 0.32% at $52.34 a barrel.

Last week, oil futures settled higher on Friday, rebounding from the prior session's near 5%-drop as traders continued to digest the latest extension of production cuts from OPEC and some non-OPEC members.

Oil prices tumbled on Thursday as the extension of output curbs by OPEC and other producing countries disappointed investors who had hoped for larger cuts, leading to the biggest daily percentage slide in crude prices since early March.

At Thursday's meeting in Vienna, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers agreed to extend supply cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day until the end of the first quarter of 2018.

While OPEC's move had been widely expected, some oil market investors had hoped producers would agree to longer or deeper cuts to drain a global glut of crude supplies.

The cartel next meets in November.

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.

Data from energy services company Baker Hughes showed on Friday that U.S. drillers last week added rigs for the 19th week in a row, the second-longest such streak on record, implying that further gains in domestic production are ahead.

The U.S. rig count rose by 2 to 722, extending an 11-month drilling recovery to the highest level since April 2015.

Crude prices gain slightly in Asia, U.S. rig count eyed - Sean Seshadri

Crude prices rose slightly in early Asia on Friday with weekly rig countfigures expected to set the near-term tone ahead of next week's meeting of OPEC and allied producers on production cuts.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for June delivery edged up 0.04% to $49.37 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent was last quoted at $52.49 a barrel.

In figures reported last Friday, oilfield servcies firm Baker Hughes said U.S. drillers added 9 oil rigs to take the total to 712, rigs for the 17th weekly gain in a row and extending an 11-month drilling recovery to the highest level since August 2015, implying that further gains in domestic production are ahead.

Overnight, crude futures settled higher on Thursday, as investors remained optimistic that OPEC would reach an agreement to extend the current supply-cut deal beyond June at its meeting next week.

In what was a choppy day of trade, oil futures recovered from a more than 1% slump, as investors' optimism that OPEC would seek an extension of the current deal to cut global production offset concerns over the rising level of U.S. shale production.

The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday, crude oil inventories fell by 1.75 million barrels last week, which was the sixth-straight week of declining crude stockpiles but the dip in inventories fell short of expectations of a draw of around 2.4 million barrels.

Despite the high level of compliance from OPEC members with the deal to rein in supply, global production remains above the five-year average, as non-OPEC members, who are not part of the supply-cut agreement have ramped up production.

In its monthly report last Thursday, OPEC estimated that non-OPEC production this year would grow by 950,000 barrels per day (bpd).

OPEC and other producers are set to meet on May 25 to decide whether to extend the current supply-cut deal amid growing optimism for a prolonged period of cuts.

Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed earlier this week that production cuts needed to be extended for a period of nine months until March 2018.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday, however, warned that OPEC’s effort to rein in the glut in supply may fail even if the oil group agrees to extend its supply-cut agreement.