NEW YORK, Dec. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- World oil prices wilted on Monday after heavy losses last week, as traders focused on forecasts of warmer weather across the northern hemisphere, particularly in the United States.

    The January crude contract settled down 72 cents at 57.34 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

    In London on Monday, the price of Brent North Sea crude for February delivery shed 79 cents to 56.34 dollars per barrel in electronic trading.

    Crude futures had fallen on Friday after long-range forecasts from the US National Weather Service showed above-average temperatures in most of the United States from January to March.

    During the first 15 days of December, oil prices had gained 8 percent owing largely to a cold snap in the northeastern United States, a region which accounts for some 80 percent of the country's energy demands.

    US stockpiles of heating fuel, demand for which peaks during the northern hemisphere winter, are 13 percent higher than at the same stage last year.

    Meanwhile, prices would likely settle this week in the run-up to the Christmas and New Year holiday period, dealers said.

    Oil prices have fallen almost 20 percent since striking a record high of 70.85 dollars on August 30, a day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the US Gulf Coast.

    Prices are still, however, some 40 percent higher than they were at the start of 2005. Enditem