•Global crude futures were stable on Thursday, maintaining strong gains on Wednesday following the bullish US product stock data, brokers said. At 10:38 London time, July ICE Brent, which expires later today, was back above $70/barrel, gaining 17 cents to $70.12/b. July NYMEX WTI was up 15 cents to $66.41/b. August DME Oman was up 36 cents to $66.08/b, while August ICE Dubai gained 9 cents to $65.58/b.

•"After yesterday's strong rally triggered by bullish US stats data for heating oil, the market is very quiet today," one broker said. "On a technical note, Brent looks very supported at the moment," and added: "I think that some selling may take place ahead of the July Brent expiry."

•Product stockbuilding stalled in the US last week, according to the EIA data. Heating oil stocks saw a 2.8 million barrel draw, with overall distillate stocks rising 300,000 barrels, lower than the 1.5 million forecast by analysts. Gasoline stocks remained unchanged versus an expected 1.7 million barrels rise. Crude stocks were up 100,000 barrels, compared to an expected draw of 500,000 barrels, while refinery utilization declined for a second week by 0.4% to 89.2%.

Updated: June 14, 2007