London — Oil prices edged lower on Monday, weighed down by an expansion in US drilling that has helped to maintain high global supplies despite an Opec-led initiative to tighten the market by cutting production. Signs of faltering demand have also prompted weakening sentiment, dropping prices to levels comparable to when the output cuts were first announced late in 2016. Brent crude futures were down 16 US cents at $47.21 per barrel at 8.41am GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 19c at $44.55 per barrel. Prices for both benchmarks are down about 14% since late May, when producers led by Opec extended a pledge to cut output by 1.8-million barrels per day for an extra nine months. Analysts said a steady rise in US production, along with output increases in cut-exempt Libya and Nigeria, were undermining the Opec-led effort. "Anyone who is looking for the bottom of the current price fall must keep his or her eyes on the supply-side equation and only get optimist...
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