•ICE Brent crude futures hit fresh 2007 highs Thursday, with market players looking to cover short positions ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, with geopolitical tensions providing further support, analysts said. The lack of movement of NYMEX WTI futures widened the WTI-Brent spread further, as an overhang from the US stock data released Wednesday continued to subdue rises in WTI futures prices.

•On Wednesday the Energy Information Administration reported a 2-million barrel build in US commercial crude stocks. Looking more closely at the data a 900,000 barrel build in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for NYMEX WTI, muted a change in WTI futures prices, widening the WTI-Brent spread to $5.73/b.

•Brent futures continued to be supported by unrest in Nigeria, which has seen a spate of attacks on oil infrastructure in the oil rich nation.

Updated: May 24, 2007