The price of oil retreated sharply on Monday as investors waited for U.S. supply data and apparently questioned OPEC's willingness to cut production.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of light sweet crude for December delivery dropped $2.39 to end at $58.36 US a barrel.
OPEC has been the focus of much investor attention after the cartel recently said it planned to cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day.
However, so far, only Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates have said they will reduce their output.
Another factor influencing prices on Monday was BP PLC's announcement that production at its Alaskan Prudhoe Bay field has returned to the August level of over 400,000 barrels a day, before concerns over corrosion forced a shutdown.
The drop comes ahead of the Wednesday release of data on U.S. crude inventories.
Last week, oil prices jumped after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that oil inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels over the previous week. That surprised some analysts, who had expected supplies to build.
With files from the Associated PressMore Money Headlines »
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