Oil prices fall on Greek debt, oversupply concerns

[SINGAPORE] Oil prices eased in Asian trade on Monday, falling for a second session on concerns about the outcome of an emergency euro zone meeting later in the day on the Greek debt crisis and worries about oversupply.

Prices moved up from early lows after a European Commission official tweeted the latest proposal from Greece was a "good basis for progress" in Monday's talks. "On a 24 hour basis we'll see some volatility depending on what happens with Greece," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at Sydney's CMC Markets.

Brent crude for August delivery fell 14 cents to US$62.88 a barrel as of 0959 GMT, after dropping 52 cents when Asian markets opened. The benchmark fell US$1.24 in the previous session.

Front month US crude futures were trading down 12 cents at US$59.49 a barrel after finishing the previous session down 84 cents.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras offered a new reforms package to foreign creditors on Sunday in an effort to avoid default later this month on 1.6 billion euros in debt repayments to the International Monetary Fund.

Worries over high domestic US oil production, which has held around 9.6 million barrels a day - the highest level since the early 1970s, also weighed on oil prices, Mr Spooner said.

US oil producers added a rig each in the Permian and Bakken shale basins last week, fuelling worries over high domestic oil output, even as the number of active US rigs fell last week, data on Friday showed. "My expectation for a price increase is fairly limited," Mr Spooner said. "One way or another we are likely to see some production cuts. If we did see prices go up then Opec would increase production and/or US producers would increase theirs as well," Mr Spooner said.

REUTERS