US crude oil inventories for the week ended May 31, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased by 6.8 million bbl from the previous week, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

Brent futures were down 42 cents, or 0.7%, at $61.55 a barrel by 0552 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down by 48 cents, or 0.9%, at $53 a barrel.

This was up 8.7% month on month from April imports of 1.62 million mt, and 20.9% higher from a year earlier. About 94.5% of the Russian imports were ESPO blend, with just one cargo of 96,000-mt of Sokol.

Venezuela's exports of crude oil and refined products fell 17% in May from the previous month to 874,500 barrels per day

Front-month Brent crude futures were at $60.96 at 0844 GMT, down $1.03 or 1.7% below Friday’s close. Prices had dropped by more than 3% on Friday, with May recording the biggest monthly loss in six months. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.98 per barrel, down 52 cents, or 1%.

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is due to purchase crude oil from Iraq next month to process at the SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (STAR) inaugurated in October 2018 in Izmir.

Total world crude oil production increased sharply in 2018 by 1.213 million barrels/day (mb/d), or 1.6%, as compared to 2017, to reach 75.78 mb/d, marking a historical high and the highest annual growth since 2015.

Front-month Brent crude futures were at $60.96 at 0844 GMT, down $1.03 or 1.7% below Friday’s close. Prices had dropped by more than 3% on Friday, with May recording the biggest monthly loss in six months. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.98 per barrel, down 52 cents, or 1%.

Saudi Arabia produced 9.65 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in May, a Saudi industry source said, a deeper cut than its target set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+.

The production fall resulted mainly from the closure due to oil contamination of Russia’s Druzhba pipeline, which usually ships 1 million bpd, or 1 percent of global oil demand.