Oil enjoys modest gains in Asia, focus on US output

Oil prices ticked up this Monday morning, although gains are being capped by the rising US oil output.

At the time of writing, WTI oil was up 18 cents or 0.33% at $54.17/barrel. Brent oil was up 22 cents or 0.40% at $56.50/barrel.

The Baker Hughes data released on Friday showed oil rigs in the US rose by 5 in the last week to 602. The EIA data also showed stocks rose 564,000 barrels to 518.7 million last week. This was the seventh straight week of gains in the inventories.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data revealed money managers raised their net long US crude futures and options positions in the week to Feb. 21, to the highest on record. The bullish positioning is looking overstretched in the wake of rising US production, which means a pullback in prices could be seen in the short-term.