London (Platts)--6May2010/727 am EDT/1127 GMT

Crude futures have come under intense selling pressure in recent trading sessions with both the ICE Brent and NYMEX WTI contracts losing about $6.50/barrel in three days.

"Predicting a bottom in crude oil prices now is akin to catching a falling knife, but likely no more difficult than predicting a bearish reversal was just a week ago...bargain hunters are likely getting prepared to begin bottom-feeding," energy analyst Tom Pawlicki said in an MF Global report.

A combination of fundamentals, falls in stock markets, and movements in the currency markets have been pivotal in the sudden sell off in crude futures, sources said.

The Greek debt crisis has impacted sentiment across a number of asset classes, turning equity trading screens red and sending the European currency to a 13-month low versus the dollar, which in turn has heaped pressure on crude benchmarks.

Adding further downward pressure to the crude benchmarks has been a burgeoning growth in US crude stocks. According to the most recent data published by the Energy Information Administration, US crude stocks climbed 2.755 million barrels to 360.575 million barrels the week ending April 30, as high imports continued to outweigh an increase in refinery operations.

US crude inputs rose 190,000 b/d to 15.146 million b/d last week, the EIA data showed, the highest level since the 15.258 million b/d figure seen for the week ending August 29, 2008.

Stocks at the NYMEX crude futures delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma, were up 1.679 million barrels at 36.244 million barrels, an all-time high.

At 10:53 GMT, the front month ICE Brent contract traded at $82.60/b, a $0.01/b fall. The NYMEX WTI contract also traded lower at $79.96/b, also a $0.01/b fall. Earlier in the session, both benchmarks traded at levels close to one-and-a-half month lows.

--George Johnson, george_johnson@platts.com