US light crude traded down 37 cents at $53.52 a barrel as dealers snapped up profits after Monday's $53.89 close, the highest in four months.

London's Brent crude fell 47 cents to $51.62 a barrel.

Venezuela, Qatar and Algeria have all come out against raising output, and Opec president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said on Sunday that although prices were high, the market was well-supplied.

Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was the latest to say the cartel had little room for maneuver ahead of a March 16 meeting to discuss production in the Iranian city of Isfahan.

"The most Opec can do in Isfahan is roll over production for a short period and to have another extraordinary meeting," Bijan Zanganeh told a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

A foreign affairs adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said on Monday prices should come down somewhat from current levels, but added that expecting a significant drop was unrealistic.

"Everybody realizes that at this level Opec can't really do anything, they are still afraid that the market isn't really that tight," said Tony Nunan, a manager at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo.

The group is usually reluctant to raise output ahead of the second quarter because the end of the northern hemisphere winter spells a slowdown in demand, while the summer driving season has yet to kick off.

Nigeria, one of Opec's most pro-Western governments, has called on other producers to help cut "excessive" prices.

Opec is already producing some 630,000 barrels per day (bpd) above its 27 million bpd limit, a Reuters survey showed.

Claims by some Opec members that the market's supply-demand balance is healthy are likely to get backing from US data this week, which is expected to show a 1.7-million-barrel increase in crude inventories.

The US Energy Information Administration releases its weekly inventory report at 1530 GMT on Wednesday.

If the forecasts from a Reuters poll of nine analysts are on target, it would mark the fourth consecutive week that crude stocks have risen and would put total U.S. commercial inventories at more than 300 million barrels.

US gasoline stocks, which have risen sharply in the Gulf Coast over the past month while the other four regions of the country have remained in normal ranges, are expected to show a small draw of 300,000 barrels, the first in six weeks.