Oil prices fall on OPEC compliance concerns

Oil held above 49 US dollars as investors looked for

signs of the oil supply-cut deal. The fall on Monday showed they were

concerned that major oil exporters' output cut deal may not be effective

enough.

Officials from Organizations of the

Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries are meeting

in Abu Dhabi on Monday and Tuesday to discuss ways to boost compliance

with an output cut deal.

(Oil prices fall on OPEC compliance concerns /Xinhua Photo)

Major

oil producers have agreed to reduce supply by 1.8 million barrels a day

through next March in order to ease a global glut that has lingered for

about 3 years.

US crude fell 0.48% to 49.34 US dollars per barrel and Brent was last at 52.27 US dollars, down 0.29% on the day.

"The

petroleum markets are tipping toward the lower end of their recent

trading range as oil producers meeting in Abu Dhabi have been slow to

assure the market that compliance with this year’s production cuts will

be improved, although we continue to note that adherence to the limits

has actually been quite strong by historical standards," Tim Evans, Citi

Futures' energy futures specialist, said in a note to Reuters.