Market and product

Oil prices dropped almost 3% on Monday as the dollar rallied on continued market uncertainty over the UK's shocking vote to exit the European Union.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures have lost about 6% since last Thursday's settlement after the so-called Brexit vote sent global risk assets plummeting on Friday as investors fled to havens such as the dollar, US Treasuries and gold.

The dollar rose almost 1%, making oil and other commodities priced in the greenback less attractive to holders of the euro and other currencies.

WTI closed at $46.33/bbl, with Brent at $47.16.

Brent dropped to a seven-week low, but research analysts discounted the impact of the EU crisis on oil specifically, noting that Britain's demand for fuel is negligible at the global level.

US commercial crude oil inventories likely fell last week for the sixth consecutive week, along with a probable fall in distillate stockpiles, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

Six analysts polled ahead of weekly inventory reports from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated, on average, that crude stocks declined 2.4m barrels in the week ended June 24.

Oil prices rose a little early Monday on some of that sentiment, before slipping again. Market intelligence firm Genscape's report of a draw of more than 1.3m barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for US crude futures provided little support.