Oil traded near the highest close in three years as hedge funds increased their bullish bets on crude to the highest in more than a decade.
Futures added 0.3% in New York after advancing 4.7% last week. Money managers boosted their net-long positions in West Texas Intermediate to the highest level in data going back to 2006, according to figures from the US.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday. Brent crude in London closed above $70 a barrel for the first time in three years on Monday.
Oil is extending a two-year rebound as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies trim production to drain a global glut.
Citigroup, Societe Generale, and JPMorgan Chase & Company predict the coalition may begin winding down supply curbs from the middle of the year, before their scheduled conclusion in December, as the market re-balances.
"We are becoming increasingly cautious about oil trending higher, especially when you look at the technical levels, prices are already in overbought territory," said Barnabas Gan, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore.
"There’s a good probability that U.S. production will grow again, simply because of the fact that oil prices are so strong."
WTI for February delivery was at $64.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 23 cents, at 10:07am in Hong Kong.
There was no settlement on Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the US, and all transactions will be booked on Tuesday. WTI closed at $64.30 on Friday, the highest close since December 2014.
Brent for March settlement lost 20 cents to $70.06 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange after adding 0.6% on Monday to close at the highest since December 2014.
The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $5.61 to March WTI.
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