VIENNA, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The weekly average oil price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dropped consecutively for three weeks to 85.07 U.S. dollars per barrel last week, down by 2.11 dollars from the previous week, the Vienna-based cartel said Monday.

    Mainly restrained by the slowdown of economic growth in the United States, OPEC's daily average oil price continued to drop with a slight fluctuation of no more than 0.9 dollars, after it hit a record high of 93.78 dollars per barrel on Jan. 3.

    However, after the first drop for four consecutive trading days last week, OPEC's daily average oil prices suddenly rebounded by 2.5 dollars to 87.05 dollars per barrel last Friday.

    Marketing analysts believed that the sudden rebound could be attributed to the 0.75-percent interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve last Tuesday and the new economic incentive program in the United States, which eased worries in the international market about a recession in the U.S. economy.

    The interest rate cut and incentive program could not only help prevent a slowdown in the U.S. economy, but could also lead to further depreciation of the U.S. dollar, which would increase the attraction of oil futures among investors possessing euros and other relatively strong currencies.

    The developing trend of international oil prices is also closely tied to OPEC's upcoming ministerial conference on Feb. 1.

    Although the United States and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are calling on the cartel to increase its output to ease the pressure in the international market, most OPEC members, however, were not willing to make such a move.

    They explained that with the upcoming warm months, the demand in the market might be weakened, stressing that the skyrocketing oil prices should not be attributed to unbalanced supply and demand, but to the crazy speculation in the international market.