•Global crude futures were stable in European morning trading Wednesday ahead of the release of weekly US inventory data later in the day, with the US dollar's recovery restraining the prevailing bullish sentiment, sources said.

•On Wednesday, NYMEX crude had surged to an all-time high trade of $122.73/barrel while Brent hit a new peak of $120.99/b, partly driven by the dollar's slide and despite news that ExxonMobil had fully restarted its Nigerian production.

•"There are really not much fundamental news out there to support the records... it is hard to say what is driving the market now other than fund money and the Goldman Sachs report yesterday, which was very supportive for the market," a London-based trader said.

•Goldman Sachs' latest energy market report, seen as highly influential, raised its forecasts again on Tuesday. It said that "the possibility of $150-$200/barrel seems increasingly likely over the next 6-24 months, though predicting the ultimate peak in oil prices as well as the remaining duration of the upcycle remains a major uncertainty."

Updated: May 7, 2008