SINGAPORE - Oil prices fell in Asian trade Thursday after US crude reserves rose higher than expected, indicating demand remained weak in the recession-hit US economy, dealers said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, fell US$0.32 to US$48.53 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June eased US$0.30 to US$49.51.

The US Department of Energy's weekly report, released Wednesday, showed crude stockpile in the world's biggest energy consumer was at its highest level in almost 20 years.

"The inventory report coming out of the US is very bearish, showing stock gains across the board for crude oil," said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy in Singapore.

Reserves of gasoline and distilled products, such as diesel and heating fuel, also increased, confounding analyst expectations of declines.

Hussein Allidinia at Morgan Stanley said energy "demand continued to fall" as the world's largest economy struggles with the recession.

Over the past four weeks, Americans consumed on average 18.5 million barrels a day of petroleum products, a decline of 6.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, despite the dramatic plunge in oil prices from peaks
above 147 dollars a barrel in July 2008.