London Brent crude for March delivery had dropped 28 cents to $55.24 a barrel by 0657 GMT, after settling down 72 cents on Friday. NYMEX crude for March delivery was down 23 cents at $52.90 a barrel.

Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.59 per barrel at 0313 GMT, up 51 cents, or 0.93 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $53.22 a barrel, up 47 cents, or 0.89 percent.

Brent crude LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, was trading at $55.42 per barrel at 0441 GMT, down 7 cents from its last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 fell 11 cents to $53.11 a barrel.

International benchmark Brent crude prices were up 68 cents at $54.84 a barrel at 0950 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading up 63 cents at $52 a barrel.

Brent for March settlement rose 27 cents to $55.72 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract fell 56 cents, or 1 percent, to $55.45 a barrel on Friday. Prices slid 2.9 percent last week, the biggest drop since November. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.32 to March WTI.

Benchmark Brent crude oil LCOc1 was down 10 cents a barrel at $55.35 by 0915 GMT (04:15 a.m. ET) and U.S. light crude CLc1 fell 10 cents to $52.27.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up 50 cents at $55.60 a barrel by 1050 GMT (5:50 a.m. ET). U.S. crude CLc1 was up 35 cents at $52.60.

Prices for Brent futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $53.73 per barrel at 0508 GMT, up 9 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $50.97 a barrel, up 15 cents.

Brent crude oil prices are forecast to average $53/b in 2017 and $56/b in 2018. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices are forecast to average $1/b less than Brent in both 2017 and 2018.

Global capital spending by leading exploration and production companies will total $450bn in 2017, up 3 per cent compared to 2016 and ending two years of steep declines, according to Wood Mac forecasts published on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the number of final investment decisions by these 60 E&P companies — which range from large multinationals and independents to national oil groups — on new upstream projects will double to more than 20 in 2017, from nine last year.