Brent crude fell by more than 3% on Monday – to just below $78 a barrel at one stage – on market speculation that major oil producing countries in the Opec+ group, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia, were set to ramp up exports later in the year.
It left the international benchmark trading at levels last seen in February.
The downwards shift for oil took place as natural gas costs went the other way on news that key Norwegian export operations had been shut down due to a cracked pipe.
