Oil prices have fallen at the start of the week as markets were concerned by soaring US crude production.

The fall in prices comes after a slowdown in rig drilling activity was outweighed by the rising output and erased gains made on Friday and earlier on Monday.

Brent crude futures decreased 13 cents, or 0.2%, to reach $65.36 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped 14 cents, or 0.2%, to trade at $61.90, according to Reuters.

Rivkin Securities investment analyst William O’Loughlin was quoted by the news agency as saying: “A falling rig count and the strong employment data may have helped support prices.”

Based on data released by the Labour Department, the US economy witnessed an increase of 313,000 jobs in non-farm payrolls last month.

“A falling rig count and the strong employment data may have helped support prices.”

The data points to the creation of the biggest number of jobs in the country in a period of more than one and a half years.

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Last week, the number of drilling rigs decreased by four to 796, according to energy services firm Baker Hughes.

The drop in rig count marks the first decrease in nearly two months.

However, the count is still much higher than the 617 rigs, reported active a year ago.

Analysts expect US crude output to increase further from its current level of 10.37 million barrels per day (bpd).