New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, shed 37 cents to 63.06 dollars per barrel in electronic deals before the official opening of the U.S. market.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for February delivery lost also 37 cents to 63.12 dollars in electronic trading.
Crude futures had soared by 3.6 percent in London and 4.3 percent in New York over last Wednesday and Friday, owing to a drop in U.S. energy stockpiles and OPEC's move to cut output further.
"Crude futures were a little lower (Monday) but held above 63 dollars a barrel, still underpinned by dense fog which delays crude imports to refineries in the U.S.," Sucden analyst Michael Davies said Monday. "In addition, continuous support comes from OPEC's decision to implement yet another output cut in February."
The 11-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided at a meeting in Nigeria last Thursday to cut output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from February.
"Last week, the market was overbought so some profit-taking is taking place today," said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist with Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo.
Last week's OPEC cut followed the cartel's reduction of 1.2 million bpd that became effective last month. Analysts said the latest move signaled that OPEC, which produces about 40 percent of global oil supplies, intended to shore up prices which are down from a July record of more than 78 dollars.
The cartel has been concerned recently about bulging worldwide inventories and anticipated non-OPEC supply growth in 2007. However, it has also sought to prevent an oil price spike that will damage world economic growth.
"OPEC's obsession with output cuts is being driven by its bearish view of the need for its oil next year," the Centre for Global Energy Studies said in its latest monthly report, released on Monday.
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