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March 14, 2005 1:00 PM, EST

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eating-oil futures fell Monday in intraday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after Saudi Arabia signaled it may call for higher OPEC production at Wednesday’s meeting of the cartel’s ministers, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile light sweet crude oil futures rose 52 cents Monday to close at $54.95 a barrel on the Nymex after declining in earlier trading, Blooomberg said.

OPEC should boost its output by a half-million barrels a day, Saudi’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi said in a statement, Bloomberg said.

Heating-oil futures for April delivery fell 1.8% Monday on the Nymex, though prices were 78% over the same time last year, Bloomberg said. Diesel and heating oil are both distillate fuels.