London (Platts)--4Dec2009/643 am EST/1143 GMT

Global crude futures were lower through the European morning trading session with the market seen to be largely quiet.

At 11:11 GMT the January ICE Brent contract was trading 37 cents/barrel lower at $77.99/b while the NYMEX crude contract continued to have greater losses in the front trading 63 cents/b lower at $75.83/b.

A rise in stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma to their highest levels in three months were cited as pressuring the front-month NYMEX contract and widening the contango.

The spread between the January/February NYMEX crude contract stretched to $1.79/b, while the ICE Brent front-months spread stood at 87 cents/b.

With a widening contango in the WTI, sources questioned how long this would last before having an impact on the Brent contract.

"Brent is maintained in the narrow $75-80/b trading range [and] has a narrower contango than WTI but with the widening discount of Brent to WTI we would expect the Brent contango to slowly drift wider as well," Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix said.

There were few prompt supply-side concerns with "plenty of oil around," a trading source said, and poor refining margins persisting.

The market was awaiting the emergence of the US nonfarm payroll numbers later Friday, trading sources said.

"Today, one of the key drivers will naturally be the release of the US unemployment number and the influence it will have on equities and the dollar," Olivier Jakob added.

"The nonfarm payroll number will most likely have much influence in determining the dollar's short-term direction, with a stronger than expected number bolstering the dollar's fortunes. Stay tuned," Edward Meir of MF Global said in his daily report.

--Daniel Colover, daniel_colover@platts.com