Oil prices were higher in European trading on Monday, but stayed near the weakest level in around three weeks amid signs of further gains in U.S. crude output.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude June contract rose 20 cents, or around 0.4%, to $49.82 a barrel by 3:20AM ET (07:20GMT). The U.S. benchmark fell to $49.20 on Friday, a level not seen since March 29.
It lost $3.35, or almost 7%, last week, the steepest drop in over a month.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for June delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London tacked on 27 cents to $52.73 a barrel after sliding to $51.57 in the prior session, its cheapest since March 29.
London-traded Brent futures recorded a loss of $3.59, or 7%, last week.
U.S. drillers last week added rigs for the 14th week in a row, data from energy services company Baker Hughes showed on Friday, extending a 10-month drilling recovery.
That brought the total count to 688, the most since September 2015, underlining concern that an ongoing rebound in U.S. shale production could derail efforts by other major producers to rebalance global oil supply and demand.
In November last year, OPEC and other producers, including Russia agreed to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day between January and June, but so far the move has had little impact on inventory levels.
A final decision on whether or not to extend the deal beyond June will be taken by the oil cartel on May 25.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for June inched up 0.3 cents, or about 0.2%, to $1.649 a gallon, while June heating oil added 0.5 cents to $1.565 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for June delivery tacked on 2.1 cents to $3.213 per million British thermal units.
