Iraqi elections that left no trace on oil production dragged the oil prices down in the biggest two-day drop in a month.

According to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, ``Current indications’’ are that Iraq’s election was a success and that ``augurs well for the transition process.’’

The eagerly awaited Vienna OPEC meeting, the ministers of the oil-producing nations left production targets unchanged at 27 million barrels a day, and are contemplating an increase in output in the second quarter, says Kuwait’s Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad al- Sabah who is currently the cartel’s president.

Still, the cartel reserved the right to slash production in February, earlier than the previously projected March, in a meeting in Isfahan, Iran. The decision will be motivated by a rise or drop in demand.

"OPEC has learned that it can influence the market by sending signals to traders on one hand, and by surprising the market on the other," Ohio Northern University economics professor A.F. Alhajji said.

March crude fell $0.81 to $46.37 a barrel.

The advent of warmer weather in the Northern Hemisphere also helps to bring the prices down. The National Weather Service predicts above- normal and normal temperatures for Feb. 4 to Feb. 10 in the US Northeast, home to 80% of the nation’s heating oil users.