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Global benchmark Brent futures were down 44 cents at
$48.28 a barrel by 1148 GMT, on track for a fourth straight day
of losses for the first time in a month.
U.S. crude futures <CLc1> traded at $47.87 a barrel, down 54
cents on Friday's close.
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi told the Mehr news
agency on Sunday his country had no plan to halt a rise in oil
production and exports.
He said Iranian crude exports, excluding gas condensates, were
at 2 million barrels per day (bpd) and would reach 2.2 million
bpd by the middle of summer.
His comments further dampened expectation for a coordinated
decision to freeze OPEC oil production at a meeting of the
exporter group in Vienna on June 2.
Adding to signs the oil market will remain over supplied, data
showed last week the number of rigs operated by U.S. drillers
held steady for the first time this year, following a near
two-year slump in the rig count.
"Stagnating rig counts and comments from Iranian officials show
that the way up for the oil prices may come to an end now," said
Frank Klumpp, oil analyst at Stuttgart-based Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.
The bearish news outweighed concerns about unplanned oil outages
globally hitting a five-year high mainly due to wildfires in
Canada that have affected oil-sands production and losses in
Nigeria and Libya.
Gains in recent weeks on these outages convinced speculators to
increase net long positions on Brent and gasoil futures in the
week ending May 17, data published by InterContinental Exchange
(ICE) showed on Monday.
However, Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB,
said he forecast Canadian production to resume next month and
weigh on Brent crude prices.
Goldman Sachs said in a research report on Monday that it
expected shale productivity gains through 2020, which will push
average breakevens for shale plays below $50 per barrel for U.S.
crude.
It raised its average Brent forecast to $45 per barrel this
year, from $39, while it said West Texas Intermediate would
average $45 per barrel this year, up from $38 previously.
(Additional reporting by Keith Wallis in Singapore; Editing by
Dale Hudson and William Hardy)
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