LONDON: Oil eased toward $66 a barrel after reaching a 2015 high.

Brent crude slipped 15 cents to $66.31 a barrel by 1331 GMT, after hitting a 2015 peak of $67.10. US crude lost 23 cents to $58.92. The US benchmark hit its highest this year at $59.90 on May 1.

“The market is expecting the tightening in the second half of the year,” said Eugen Weinberg, analyst at Commerzbank.

“We argue this dynamic is hardly fundamentally sound,” he said of the market’s rally.

“There has yet to be any noticeable drop in US oil production.”

A public holiday in Britain on Monday limited trading volume.

The collapse of oil prices in 2014 has prompted expectations that supply growth in higher-cost crude producers such as the US will slow. On Friday, oil services firm Baker Hughes Inc. said the number of US active rigs had fallen for a record 21 weeks in a row.