London (Platts)--10May2007

Global crude futures strengthened Thursday, shrugging off a build in US
crude stocks and refocusing on bullish gasoline data, market sources said.

     At 10:06 GMT, the June ICE Brent futures contract was up 54 cents/barrel
at $65.74/b. The NYMEX and ICE WTI June contracts changed hands at $61.80/b
and $61.81/b, up 25 cents and 26 cents respectively.

     The strength of the front month ICE Brent contract has led to a
tightening along the curve with the June-July spread currently at minus 25
cents/b in contango. The July-August spread stood at minus 42 cents/b.

     "Crude spreads have strengthened and the contango is smaller," said one
London-based broker. "The Brent North Sea program will be smaller in June due
to maintenance but that was expected. There have been no fresh stories today
to push futures higher still." North Sea Brent Blend crude loadings are set to
fall to 217,667 b/d in June, down 5,527 b/d from May's expected level of
223,194 b/d, market sources said Thursday.
     
     GASOLINE KEY DRIVER 

     Despite a larger than expected build in crude in the US which initially
caused a complex-wide selloff on Wednesday, gasoline re-emerged as the key
market driver.

     The Energy Information Administration reported that US commercial crude
stocks had risen 5.6 million barrels last week to 341.2 million barrels, the
highest level since end-June 2006. The crude price decline was stemmed by
strength in the RBOB market, which was supported by bullish gasoline data.

     US gasoline stocks rose 400,000 barrels, but key producing (PADD III) and
consuming (PADD I) regions posted stock draws. Overall stocks also declined
relative to historical levels, slipping 700,000 barrels to 15.2 million
barrels below the five-year average.

     Oil products futures were also stronger. June NYMEX RBOB futures on
Wednesday were up 2.28 cents at $2.2537/gallon in early electronic trading on
the CME Globex system. The June heating oil futures were 1.11 cents higher at
$1.8269/gal. On ICE, the May ICE gasoil futures contract, which expires
Thursday, was trading $8/mt higher at $578.00/mt.

--Paul Hailey, paul_hailey@platts.com