Brent Crude Falls, WTI Shows Slight Gain on Monday’s Settlement

Crude oil prices produced mixed results on Monday after OPEC reported a fall in October output while a U.S. government report showed expectations for a monthly rise in domestic shale oil production, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

December West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, rose 2 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $56.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

January Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell by 36 cents, or 0.6%, to end trading at $63.16 on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange.

OPEC reported crude production dropped by nearly 0.5% to 32.59 million barrels a day in October when compared with September data. OPEC also raised its forecast for oil demand this year and 2018.

A report by the Energy Information Administration revealed expectations for another monthly climb in domestic shale oil production. The EIA expects to see a rise of 80,000 barrels a day in December to 6.174 million barrels a day. The report has forecast increases in shale oil output every month so far this year.

Despite recent news of a major earthquake on the Iran-Iraq border, initial reports suggest heavily affected areas do not include major crude producing regions.

Meanwhile, December natural gas futures declined by 1.4% to settle at $3.167 per million British thermal units back on the New York Mercantile Exchange.