Crude oil futures rose from their two-month lows Wednesday as traders worried that US inventories would not be sufficient to meet fuel demand in the second half of the year, Xinhua reported.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for June delivery rose 63 cents to end at $50.13 a barrel. Prices touched as low as $48.80 a barrel during the earlier session.

On London's International Petroleum Exchange, the June Brent crude oil futures climbed 45 cents to close at $50.97 per barrel.

The Energy Department reported Wednesday that supplies rose 2.68 million barrels to 327 million in the week ending April 29, the highest since July 1999.

However, traders still worried inventories might not be enough to meet demand during the second half of the year. Last month, the International Energy Agency reported that global oil consumption would climb 2.1 percent this year to 84.27 million barrels a day.

"There is just too much fear in the market about demand later this year," said an analyst with Citigroup Inc. in Houston.

Another Houston-based analyst said that oil prices would probably stay between $35 a barrel and $50 a barrel at least over the next several years. He attributed the high prices to less spare capacity in oil production all over the world.

In New York, oil futures had fallen 14 percent since reaching $58.28 a barrel April 4, but prices remained 29 percent higher than a year ago.