Crude oil was little changed after falling to a one-month low as mild weather in most of the U.S. reduced heating-fuel consumption.

Higher-than-normal temperatures will cover most of the lower 48 states from Jan. 1 through Jan. 5, the U.S. National Weather Service said. Natural gas, a competing fuel, plunged 13 percent in three sessions on the warm weather. Some users switch between natural gas and fuels refined from crude oil based on cost.

``As long as the weather is mild the market is going to test the lower end of the recent trading range,'' said Eric Wittenauer, an energy analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis.

Crude oil for February delivery fell 10 cents to $61 a barrel at 11:47 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract touched $60.28, the lowest since Nov. 28. Prices tumbled 2.1 percent yesterday, the biggest one-day decline since Nov. 16. Futures traded between $59.26 and $64.15 over the past month.

``We've had an amazingly mild start to the winter,'' said Dale Mohler, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. ``We are going to see warmer-than-normal weather for a minimum of two more weeks.''

Home-heating demand in the Northeast, the region responsible for 80 percent of U.S. heating-oil use, will be 28 percent below normal through Jan. 3, said Weather Derivatives, a forecaster in Belton, Missouri.

Natural gas for January delivery fell 16.7 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $5.946 per million British thermal units in New York. Futures touched $5.855, the lowest since Oct. 16.