Investing.com - Crude oil prices fell in Asia on Monday with ongoing geopolitical concerns over North Korea and the Kurdish government in Iraq weighing - but overall trade thinned by a week-long holiday in China and other regional markets closed.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 0.23% to $51.55 a barrel. Last week, WTI prices gained around 2% to notch their fourth-straight weekly climb. It ended September with an increase of roughly 9.5% and saw quarterly rise of about 12%.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., dipped 0.35% to $56.69 a barrel. Brent closed last week with a gain of 1.2%, its fifth-consecutive weekly climb. Brent futures scored a nearly 10% gain for September and ended the quarter up roughly 19%.
Last week, oil prices on Friday tallied a gain for the week, month and quarter, boosted by optimism that the crude market was well on its way towards rebalancing.
Prices have gained more than 20% from their June lows, meeting the definition of a bull market, as data showed strong compliance from major producers with their supply cut agreement and a plethora of energy agencies suggested global demand is increasing.
In May, OPEC and non-OPEC members led by Russia agreed to extend production cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day for a period of nine months until March 2018 in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.
Mounting fears over the potential fallout from the independence referendum in the oil-rich Kurdish region of Iraq provided further support.
Kurdish voters overwhelmingly cast their ballot in favor of independence from Iraq earlier in the week. The vote result may trigger a hostile response from Iraq’s central government, as well as from neighboring countries Turkey and Iran, and disrupt the flow of as much as 500,000 barrels a day of Kurdish oil exported through a Turkish port.
Oil price gains this month have also been supported by anticipated renewed demand from U.S. refiners that were resuming operations after shutdowns due to Hurricane Harvey.
Natural gas futures dropped 0.43% to $3.006 per million British thermal units.