Investing.com - Crude oil prices turned lower on Monday, after reaching fresh mutli-month highs recently as investors chose to lock in profits and as the outlook for global supply and demand remained positive.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude October contract was at $50.23 a barrel by 09:00 a.m. ET (13:00 GMT), down 28 cents or about 0.56%, just off a four-month peak of $50.84 reached overnight.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for November delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London was down 35 cents or about 0.65% at $55.27 a barrel, not far from last Thursday's five-month high of $55.98.
Oil prices remained supported by last week's bullish demand forecasts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency.
The data also showed that global oil production fell last month for the first time since March, boosting optimism that the market is rebalancing.
In addition, U.S. refineries along the Gulf Coast have been reporting a much better recovery than expected after being shut due to hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which battered the region over the past three weeks.
U.S. energy firms cut seven oil rigs in the week to Sept. 15, bringing the total to 749, the fewest since June, energy services company Baker Hughes said on Friday.
Oil traders now looked ahead to a meeting Friday between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers regarding a possible extension of production caps.
OPEC and its allies are discussing extending by more than three months the oil production cuts that expire in March 2018, potentially prolonging them well into the second half of next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
OPEC and other producers, including Russia, have agreed to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels per day until next March in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.
Elsewhere, gasoline futures gained rose 0.22% to $1.664 a gallon, while natural gas futures rallied 3.08% to $3.117 per million British thermal units.