SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : World oil prices eased in Asian trade Thursday, after an overnight surge on OPEC move, as the dollar recovered against major currencies.

Analysts said the black gold fell for the for the first time in three days as a rise in the dollar caused investors to sell contracts to lock in gains after prices reached a 10-week high yesterday.



Light sweet crude for April delivery was seen trading at $82.49 a barrel at 11.30 a.m while Brent crude was at $ 81.51 a barrel at the same time.

Oil also fell after a U.S. Energy Department report showed U.S. crude inventories climbed for a seventh week.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major currencies, gained 0.2 percent to 79.78 today at 10:54 a.m. Singapore time. It traded at $1.3726 per euro from $1.3738 yesterday.

On Wednesday, oil climbed sharply after OPEC, the cartel that produces 40 per cent of world crude, held current output quotas unchanged despite a recent run-up in prices.

April delivery rose $1.23 to close at $82.93 a barrel while Brent North Sea crude for May delivery leapt $1.43 to $81.96 a barrel.

OPEC left its output ceiling unchanged at 24.84 million barrels a day at a meeting in Vienna, citing uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment and world oil demand.

The oil cartel said it would review the economic situation at its next ordinary meeting in Vienna on October 14.

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