London (Platts)--31May2007

Global crude futures were a touch softer Thursday as downward momentum
continued from Wednesday's complex-wide selloff, led by NYMEX gasoline
futures, sources said.
     Expected builds in US commercial crude stocks and news of the release of
four US nationals in Nigeria kidnapped this earlier month, amid a general
easing of concerns over supply from the region, have also added to the bearish
sentiment.
      At 0932GMT, the July ICE Brent futures contract traded at $67.67/barrel,
down 17 cents from Wednesday's close, while July NYMEX crude changed hands at
$63.24/b, down 25 cents.
     "On Wednesday, gasoline was weak, people are getting out of RBOB and
liquidating positions ahead of the expiry of the front month contract. There
was a bout of profit-taking yesterday but it will take very little to turn
around," said a London-based trader.
     "The oil complex remains under technical pressure and gasoline will need
to face today the combined pressure of the expiry and Department of Energy
release," a report from oil analysts Petromatrix said.
     Weekly US oil inventory data due to be released Thursday by the US Energy
Information Administration and American Petroleum Institute are expected to
show a 825,000 barrel build in commercial crude stocks, analysts surveyed by
Platts said Wednesday.
     Analysts were expecting a build in gasoline stocks of 1.4 million
barrels. Gasoline inventories have increased the past three weeks, but the
build has only amounted to 3.567 million barrels compared with a stock decline
of 34.115 million barrels from February 2 through April 27.
     "With crack spreads wide, there is significant financial incentive for
refiners to produce as much product as possible," Jason Schenker, energy
economist at Wachovia Bank, said in a report. "With higher run rates, crude
inventories are likely to have built by 1 million barrels, as opposed to the
previous build of 1.97 million barrels."
     The EIA data was expected to show US refinery utilization inching up 0.4%
to 91.5%.
     On the product side, June ICE gasoil futures traded $1/mt higher at
$587.25/mt. The NYMEX heating oil contract changed hands at $1.8708/gallon,
down 0.47 cents from Friday, while the RBOB contract also fell, to
$2.2641/gal, down 0.47 cents.
--Paul Hailey, paul_hailey@platts.com