NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil prices backed off a six-week high Monday as the U.S. July Fourth holiday passed without a hitch.

Light crude for August delivery fell 76 cents to trade at $26.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent Sea crude dropped 54 cents to $24.77 a barrel in London.

"Everyone's much more relaxed now we're past the Fourth of July without a major incident," said a London broker.

Oil prices fell as stocks moved broadly lower on Wall Street, with most oil stocks posting solid losses.

Crude prices dropped despite comments from Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah, saying he did not expect the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to ease output curbs when the group meets in September to determine fourth-quarter oil output.

"I don't think there is a shortage of oil. In fact there is more supply [than demand] in the market," Attiyah told reporters in Doha. "Prices are stable."

OPEC agreed in June to keep its strict oil output curbs unchanged for the third quarter of 2002.  

--from staff and wire reports