Oil hovers near multi-month lows, US rigs data eyed

Oil benchmarks on both sides of the Atlantic turned back in the red in the early European trades, reverting a brief recovery stint witnessed during Asia.

WTI flirts with $ 41

Currently, both crude benchmarks trade range-bound to lower, with Brent testing $ 43 support, while WTI breaches 41 barrier. Oil prices fell once again on Friday, extending its ongoing losing streak as omnipresent oversupply worries continue to dent sentiment amid growing concerns over slowing global growth.

Adding to the concerns of a rise in the US stockpiles, comments from the US bank Goldman Sachs further accentuated the downside in oil. The bank noted, "We continue to expect that oil prices will remain in a $45 per barrel to $50 per barrel trading range through mid-2017 with near-term risks skewed to the downside."

Markets now look forward to the US rigs count report for this week, which will be released later on day, with analysts saying the number could strongly impact the market direction. Last week, the number of active rig drilling grew by 14 to 371, rising for a fourth consecutive week.