Oil drops after rise in US oil rig count

Oil prices maintained their losses in American trade on track for the first loss in four sessions on profit-taking away from two-week highs, after the US oil count rose last week, paving the way for more increases in US output to fresh record highs. 

As of 12:00 GMT, US crude fell to $62.00 a barrel from the opening of $62.12, while Brent dipped to $65.85 a barrel from the opening of $66.06. 

US crude rose 1.8% on Friday, the third daily profit in a row, while Brent climbed 1.7% to a two-week high at $66.40. 

Oil prices inched up 0.3% last week as expectations of higher global oil demand overcame oversupply fears. 

Baker Hughes reported a rise of 4 rigs in the US oil rig count, the seventh weekly increase in two months, reaching a total of 800 rigs, the highest since April 2015. 

Due to increasing US rig activity, output jumped 23% since mid-2016 to 10.38 million bpd, passing Saudi Arabia's 9.9 million bpd, and nearing Russia's 10.9 million bpd. 

As US output reaches successive record highs, output in Canada and Brazil has risen as well, hurting efforts by OPEC and Russia to cut supplies and achieve market balance. 

Experts expect more complicated developments in the global oil market after supplies slowed down in 2017, while projected to accelerate again later this year.