Oil prices slide in Asian trade

Oil prices were lower in Asian trade today as concerns over the weak state of the global economy continued to put a dampener on energy prices, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, fell 90 cents to $50.65 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for June delivery shed 76 cents to $50.91.

"There is an ongoing softness in economic activities," said Jason Feer, Asia-Pacific vice-president of energy analysts Argus Media.

"The ongoing question is when economic activity will pick up. That's really what you're looking at for oil at this point."

The price fall came after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said yesterday that current oil prices were inadequate to cover investment costs by oil producers.

"The price of $50 is not enough to cover investment costs for the future," OPEC secretary general Abdalla El-Badri told reporters in Algiers.

"The price which allows reasonable and acceptable revenues is more than $70 a barrel," he added.

However, El-Badri would not say if OPEC would cut output further when it meets in Vienna on May 28.