Shafaq News / Oil prices dropped for a second session on Monday after the head of the world's top exporter, Saudi Aramco, said it is ready to ramp up output while production at several offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms is resuming after a brief outage last week.

Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.3%, to $97.88 a barrel by 0034 GMT after settling 1.5% lower on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $91.87 a barrel, down 22 cents, or 0.2%, following a 2.4% drop in the previous session.

Saudi Aramco stands ready to raise crude oil output to its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels per day (bpd) if requested to do so by the Saudi Arabian government, Chief Executive Amin Nasser told reporters on Sunday.

Investors are looking ahead to China economic data later on Monday for demand cues at the world's top crude oil importer.

Oil prices rebounded more than 3% last week after a damaged oil pipeline component disrupted output at several offshore Gulf of Mexico platforms.

(Reuters)