Oil prices extended declines in Asian trade Tuesday as ongoing concerns over soft demand in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer, weighed on the market, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May fell US0.26 to US$84.08 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for May dipped US$0.09 to US$84.68 a barrel. Sentiment was hampered by expectations of bearish demand ahead of a weekly government crude supplies report from the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday, analysts said. "The near-term fundamentals are still quite bearish ... Crude inventories have been rising and there hasn't been a significant rise in the product's demand," said Serene Lim, a Singapore-based analyst with the ANZ bank. The U.S. government's weekly oil stockpiles report last Wednesday showed an increase in crude oil reserves for the 10th week in a row. Demand worries pared gains made in trading Monday when the New York contract briefly rallied above US$85 on a weaker dollar, making dollar-priced crude cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies, and improved Chinese demand.

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