Brent has struggled for follow through above....>

OIL: Brent has struggled for follow through above $70, last trading a few cents

above the psychological level. There was a lack of headline catalysts apparent

on Monday, with trading for the crude benchmarks subjected to holiday adjusted

hours, as both WTI & Brent edged higher on the day.

- Monday saw the Kuwaiti oil minister suggest that the global oil market will

likely be balanced towards the latter part of this year, as he highlighted that

it is premature to suggest whether or not OPEC+ producers will extend their

production agreement.

- Elsewhere, RTRS sources noted that "Russia's oil production continued to fall

this month, under pressure from lower exports after shipments via the Druzhba

pipeline to Europe were found to be contaminated in April... Russia's oil

exports via Transneft pipelines, including Druzhba, dropped 6% during May 1-26

from the average level seen in April. The country's oil production over the same

period totalled 11.126 million barrels per day (bpd), down from 11.147 million

bpd on May 1-21."