Investing.com - Crude oil futures slipped lower on Monday as the Libyan government confirmed that two oil ports were to reopen for exports, after officials and Libyan rebels reached an agreement to end an eight-month blockade.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures for delivery in May were last trading at $100.80 in the Globex electronic session, down 0.34%.
Brent oil futures for May delivery fell 0.84% to $105.83 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, while the spread between the Brent and U.S. crude contracts stood at $5.03 a barrel.
Libyan government officials and rebels reached an agreement over the weekend to re-open Zueitina and Hariga ports, which normally export a combined total of 200,000 barrels a day, mostly to Europe.
Losses in oil were checked after the latest U.S. jobs report disappointed some market expectations for a more robust reading but indicated that the Federal Reserve is likely to stick to the current pace of reductions to its asset purchase program.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in March, only slightly below expectations for jobs growth of 200,000, while jobs growth for the previous two months was revised higher.
Oil traders were looking ahead to monthly reports from the International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries due later in the week, which will indicate expectations of supply and demand in the global market.
Data from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission released Friday showed that hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish bets in New York-traded oil futures in the week ending April 1.
Net longs totaled 300,921 contracts, up 2.49% from net longs of 293,403 in the preceding week.