Investing.com - Crude oil futures fell to four-week lows on Monday, as concerns over potential supply disruptions in the Middle East continued to subside.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for August delivery slumped to a session low of $110.41 a barrel, the weakest level since June 12, before trimming losses to last trade at $110.57 during U.S. morning hours, down 0.07%, or 7 cents.
Elsewhere, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for delivery in August hit a daily low of $103.34, the cheapest since June 12, before coming off the lows to trade at $103.45, up 0.33%, or 34 cents.
Investors continued to unwind positions that had priced in the possibility of major supply disruptions stemming from violence in Libya and Iraq.
Libyan rebels agreed to open two of its ports for oil exports last week. The Es Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals have a capacity to export up to 560,000 barrels of oil a day, nearly half of the country's oil exports.
Ongoing indications that Iraqi oil exports from the southern part of the country remained insulated from the sectarian violence that has swept the north in recent weeks also weighed.
Futures rallied to nine-month highs amid fears that an insurgency in northern Iraq would spread to the oil-rich south and disrupt the nation's oil production.
Iraq produced approximately 3 million barrels a day of oil last month, making it OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer behind Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, investors looked ahead to key economic data out of China and the U.S. later in the week to gauge the health of the global economy.
China is due to release data on consumer price inflation on Wednesday, followed by a report on the trade balance on Thursday.
In the U.S., the Federal Reserve is due to release the minutes of its June policy meeting on Wednesday. Upbeat nonfarm payrolls data released last week bolstered the outlook for the broader economic recovery and revived speculation over when the central bank may start to raise interest rates.