OPEC Average Crude Price Eased

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)'s weekly average crude oil price fell slightly to 53.45 U.S. dollars per barrel, down 0.93 dollars from the previous week, the cartel's secretariat said on Monday.

It is the first fall since the cartel's weekly oil price continued rising for three weeks, the secretariat said.

The unusual late cold temperatures has lent strong support to the crude oil prices over the past weeks, however, as the end of winter approaches, the U.S. fuel inventories are expected to be sufficient to meet heating demand in the world's largest energy consumer, market analysts said.

According to some weather analysts, temperatures in much of the northeast of the U.S. will be above average in the coming week, and warmer weather is also going to move into the eastern half of the United States.

The crude oil price fall came amid an unrest in Nigeria, Africa's largest crude producer and also the world's sixth-biggestexporter of crude oil.