Crude oil prices fell Monday as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was considering additional production increase.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet oil futures for May delivery fell 26 cents to end at 57.01 dollars per barrel. Prices touched an intraday high of 58.28 dollars a barrel, the highest level since trading was introduced in 1983.

Meanwhile, on London's International Petroleum Exchange, the May Brent crude-oil futures contract shed 28 cents to settle at 56.23 dollars per barrel, the highest intraday prices since the contract began trading in 1988.

Adnan Shihab-Eldin, OPEC acting secretary general, said Sunday during an interview that the group was concerned about the prices and did not want to face a boom-and-bust situation. He further noted that OPEC was ready to boost its oil output quota by 10 percent to prevent record high oil prices from hurting economic growth.

Analysts believed that there was a confluence of bearish factors that were finally being felt by the energy markets. "There is a prospect of recession in Europe and Japan and OPEC continues to boost production," an American analyst said.

The European Commission again lowered its 2005 growth forecasts, which also pressured on oil prices.