Oil prices edged lower in Asian trade today as investors took profits from last week's gains.
New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for delivery in May, shed 35 cents to $106.52 a barrel while Brent North Sea crude for May settlement was down 30 cents at $124.83.
Oil had rallied on Friday in reaction to reports that exports from Iran had significantly dropped in March amid rising tensions between Tehran and the West over its controversial nuclear programme.
There was no official word on how much Iranian crude exports may have fallen, but there were unconfirmed reports of a 14% drop, which was enough to hit confidence.
The International Energy Agency has previously estimated that exports from Iran could plunge by about 800,000 barrels a day to one million in the second half of the year.
Economic sanctions by the US and the European Union have yet to dissuade Iran - OPEC's second largest producer - from pursuing the atomic programme, which Washington and its allies claim is aimed at building a bomb.
Tehran has insisted that the programme is solely for peaceful civilian purposes. The US is pushing for a tough new set of sanctions on Iran that would penalise foreign financial institutions that deal with the Islamic republic's central bank, which handles the crucial oil sales.
