Oil prices fell to near $82 a barrel on Thursday in Asia, paring two

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days of gains that were fueled by signs US crude demand may be improving.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 75 cents to $82.18 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.23 to settle at $82.93 on Wednesday.

Oil had risen more than $3 the previous two days, helped higher by a larger-than-expected drop in gasoline and distillates inventories last week and a smaller-than-expected increase in crude supplies, according to Energy Information Agency data released Wednesday.

The 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about 40 per cent of global crude output, said Wednesday at a quarterly meeting in Vienna that it would maintain the group's production quotas.

``OPEC ministers are fairly relaxed with the situation right now and are comfortable to float along with the positive and improving data flow,'' Barclays Capital said in a report.

In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil fell 1.87 cents to $2.136 a gallon, and gasoline dropped 1.85 cents to $2.310 a gallon. Natural gas slid 4.1 cents to $4.262 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude was down 73 cents at $81.23 on the ICE futures exchange.