Oil prices struggled to find support to rise from the sharp fall recorded at the end of last week.
Entering the European session, Brent crude futures traded at $ 113 a barrel, while US WTI traded slightly down at $ 109 a barrel.
The benchmark WTI oil fell nearly 7% while Brent plunged around 6% on Friday after being hit by concerns over an economic downturn as a result of aggressive interest rate hike measures.
Last week, the Federal Reserve (Fed) announced a rate hike of 75 basis points to combat soaring inflation, sparking concerns over the possibility of a recession.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a recession is inevitable and such a shift is common in an effort to offset the inflation spike.
However, continued supply disruptions following the war in Ukraine and unrest in Libya as well as OPEC’s failure to pump more oil helped curb oil from falling lower.
