Commodity traders felt that the limited impact of the conflict on production led to profit taking after benchmark oil indices gained two percent last week.
European benchmark Brent futures gave up 49 cents to $77.80 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate in the United States lost 51 cents to $72.17.
Several tanker owners moved away from the Red Sea and ships changed course on Friday after the U.S. and U.K. launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
The realization that oil supply is not adversely affected is leading last week’s bulls to take profits, with the move lower somewhat exacerbated by a slightly stronger dollar, said Tamas Varga of brokerage PVM.
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