SINGAPORE: Oil fell in Asian trade Wednesday as sentiment was dampened by a private report showing weaker US energy demand, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery was seven cents lower at 79.61 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for April delivery dropped four cents to 78.14 dollars a barrel.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group, said late Tuesday crude stocks in the country rose by 2.67 million barrels in the past week while gasoline reserves increased 909,000 barrels.

Distillate stocks, which include heating fuel, fell 4.07 million barrels.

“I think the crude build-up is certainly bearish so inventories remain high,” said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.

“The fundamentals will prevent pricing from being sustainable at the 80-plus dollar level,” he said.

The API report is usually released a day before the weekly US Department of Energy (DoE) report on petroleum stocks movements.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones expect the DoE report to show crude stocks rising by one million barrels but distillate stocks is seen declining by 700,000 barrels.

Gasoline reserves are likely to rise by 700,000 barrels, the poll results showed..