LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices weakened on Monday, extending last week's steep falls owing to concerns about lower global energy demand, traders said. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, lost 60 cents to 126.75 dollars a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for July fell 64 cents to 127.14 dollars. "Oil futures were lower, still under pressure from last week's heavy losses," said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov. Prices have shed about eight dollars since striking record peaks of 135.14 dollars in London and 135.09 dollars in New York on May 22. "Last week, crude futures suffered from a fresh wave of profit taking," Kryuchenkov said. "The sell off was also (driven) by concerns that demand for energy is weakening due to record oil prices, with a wave of fuel strikes across the globe highlighting these fears." New York crude plunged five dollars last week, while London Brent shed about four dollars, falling in line with a recovering US currency that makes oil more expensive for foreign buyers and therefore dampens demand. "The signs that demand is falling is forcing funds to seek better profits elsewhere," said Alaron trader Phil Flynn. "Keep an eye on the 125 dollars a barrel area. A close below (that level) could open up the selling floodgates." Despite the recent easing prices, the high cost of crude has sparked widespread international alarm and US-led calls for the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to produce more oil. However, OPEC president Chakib Khelil on Saturday reiterated the cartel's long-standing view that speculators and the weak dollar were partly to blame for runaway prices. "The consensus is that the crisis is not over and there is going to be a continuing impact on the prices of oil because of speculation," he said. Khelil, also Algeria's energy minister, said OPEC would not review the situation again until it meets in Vienna on September 9. OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil, is reluctant to bend to demands that it produce more to dampen the red-hot market. Meanwhile on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, on a tour of the Gulf, called on oil-producing countries to open their oil markets to foreign investment. "On the supply side, we are urging all oil producing countries to open oil markets to foreign investment, which would support faster and more efficient growth," he said in a speech in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. Paulson was in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on the third and last stop of a Gulf tour.