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Oil prices fall after US drillers add rigs

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TOKYO: Oil fell on Monday after US shale drillers added more rigs last week, but prices still held close to their highest since mid-2015, supported by an extension of output cuts agreed to last week by Opec and other producers.


Drillers in the United States added two oil rigs in the week to December 1, bringing the total count up to 749, highest since September, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report late on Friday.


US West Texas Intermediate CLc1 was down 46 cents, or 0.8 per cent, at $57.90 a barrel at 0750 GMT. Brent futures LCOc1 were down 27 cents, or 0.4 per cent, at $63.46 a barrel.


The US rig count, an early indicator of future output, has gained sharply from 477 rigs active a year ago after energy companies boosted spending plans for 2017.


Drillers over 2017 were encouraged to increase activity as crude prices started recovering from a multi-year price slump around the same time that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-Opec producers, including Russia, agreed to production cuts a year ago.


Last week, the producers agreed to extend those cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of next year. — Reuters


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