NEW YORK?Oil prices struggled Monday to extend last week's rally as the euphoria of better-than-expected US jobs data faded.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, rose 37 cents to close at $81.87 a barrel.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for April climbed 58 cents to settle at $80.47 a barrel.
Analysts said market optimism waned after the encouraging US jobs data released by the government on Friday.
US nonfarm payrolls fell by 36,000 in February, surprising most analysts who projected about 67,000 job losses, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent despite severe winter storms, the government report had said.
"Fading gains suggested that a degree of pessimism still exists," said Mike Fitzpatrick at MF Global.
Fitzpatrick noted that actual supply and demand data for oil remained weak.
"All this points to the possibility of corrective selling," he added.
Fitzpatrick also said that the Greece debt crisis continued to haunt the market.
"Perhaps the sight of Greek Prime Minister Papandreou going hat in hand to European capitals seeking help has made investors uneasy," he said.
The oil market, meanwhile, weighed weekend comments from Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who said that his key crude-producing nation would maintain its moderate policies which helped limit the damage of the global financial crisis.
"The kingdom has continued to be moderate in its approach to the global oil situation," Abdullah said in his annual address to the Shura Council, the country's consultative assembly.
The statement from the Saudi king came amid rising concern that US-led sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program could disrupt global oil markets.
With Saudi production hovering at around nine million barrels a day, Saudi Arabia is by far the OPEC cartel's largest single oil supplier and the key swing producer, adding or reducing output to moderate sharp swings in the market.
Amrita Sen at Barclays Capital said the market was trending higher.
"The dominant range is moving upwards as the floor currently pushes up from $70 to $75, with prices having settled above $80 a barrel for three consecutive sessions with relative ease" last week, the analyst said.
