-- Crude futures edge lower, continue last week's sell off -- Comments from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia keeping pressure on prices -- Mixed macro-economic data also causing market optimism to fade -- Supply-side concerns continue to lend support to prices By Sarah Kent Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Oil futures tipped into negative territory Monday as nothing new emerged to break the down-trend started last week. At 0953 GMT, the front-month May Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was 28 cents, or 0.2%, lower at $122.60 a barrel. The front-month May contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading down 41 cents, or 0.4%, at $102.61 per barrel. "The big picture is that the Saudis and U.S. seem rather determined to tame the oil market and keep the price under pressure," said James Zhang, strategist at Standard Bank. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, made several statements over the last couple of weeks in a move to reassure the market that it was able to keep it well-supplied. Most recently, the country's oil minister wrote an opinion piece in the Financial Times, calling for lower prices and stating that supply was adequate. Meanwhile, reports in recent weeks that a number of oil consuming countries, including the U.S., U.K. and France, are considering whether to release oil from their strategic stocks to help lower prices have put significant pressure on the market. More mixed economic data, particularly from the U.S. and China at the start of the second quarter have also helped sour the mood in the market. "Financial investors, who were one of the driving factors behind the rise in oil prices in the first two months of this year, would appear to [be] becoming more sceptical," said Commerzbank in a note. The Commodity and Futures Trading Commission reported Friday that the number of speculators betting U.S. crude futures would rise fell by nearly 3% last week. Later in the day IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) will release similar data for the European benchmark. "Recently, net long positions in Brent were just short of the highest level they had achieved since records began in June 2011, meaning that there is also potential for correction here--the latest drop in prices at least would suggest this," Commerzbank added. Still, supply-side risks remain a serious concern in the market, and will likely keep a cap on any fall in prices, analysts said. Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan Sunday halted its oil exports over a payment dispute with the central government. The amount of oil in question is small, at around 90,000 barrels a day, but the issues serves to highlight the risks that still remain. The market is still short of supply from Syria and South Sudan, while sanctions against Iran are making it increasingly difficult to buy the Islamic republic's crude. "The bottom line is that for as long as jitters over Iranian shipments continue, the market could well remain rangebound unless we have a temporary price retreat on the back of an inventory release," said Andrey Kryuchenckov, vice president of commodities research at VTB Capital in a note. At 0953 GMT, the ICE's gasoil contract for April delivery was down $2.50, or 0.3%, at $1011.75 per metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for May delivery was 157 points, or 0.5%, higher at $3.3238 per gallon. -By Sarah Kent, Dow Jones Newswires; 4420-7842-9376; sarah.kent@dowjones.com

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