* U.S. crude oil inventories drop 4.5 million barrels - API
* For a technical view, click: []
* Coming Up: EIA inventory report; 1430 GMT
(Updates throughout; previous SINGAPORE)
By Christopher Johnson
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Oil rose above $72 on Wednesday
on news of strong Chinese exports and after an industry report
showed a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude stocks.
Chinese exports grew about 50 percent from a year earlier in
May, Reuters reported on Wednesday, in a sign the economy of the
second-largest oil user was roaring ahead. []
The export figure in the Reuters report, which came ahead of
Thursday's official release, far exceeded expectations and
fuelled a rise in stock markets globally. []
Adding to the picture of rising oil demand, U.S. crude
inventories fell 4.5 million barrels last week, the American
Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday after the close of
trade, more than four times as much as expected. []
U.S. crude for July delivery <CLc1> rose 49 cents to $72.48
a barrel by 0955 GMT. The contract was still down by more than 2
percent so far this month after an almost 14 percent decline in
May. July ICE Brent <LCOc1> was trading almost at parity, up 47
cents at $72.54.
"The Chinese figures may add extra confidence to financial
markets at a time when many think the dollar may have peaked,"
said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
"The API report of a big draw in crude oil stocks is also
lending some support," he added.
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http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/NT_20100906115841.jpg
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OPEC REPORT
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will publish more
closely watched government statistics on oil inventories and
demand on Wednesday at 1430 GMT. []
The drop in U.S. crude inventories reported by the API was
matched by an equivalent increase in product supplies.
Gasoline stocks posted an unexpected increase of 1.5 million
barrels and distillates, including heating oil and diesel,
logged a larger-than-forecast gain of 3 million barrels.
An expanded Reuters poll of analysts said crude inventories
probably fell 900,000 barrels on average in the week to June 4.
U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday gave conflicting
signals on the direction of interest rates, highlighting an
increasingly important split within the central bank.
[]
"Changes in market views about the economy will continue to
affect all risky markets, and commodities are no exception," JP
Morgan said in a report dated June 8. "The key driver however is
the strength of developing market oil demand, with diesel demand
increasing in line with the recovery in global trade."
"Crude oil demand will increase sharply in the coming weeks
as Asian refineries ramp up throughput as seasonal maintenance
comes to an end," it added.
Chinese trade data for May, including oil statistics, will
be published on Thursday, followed by industrial production for
the same month on Friday, with growth forecast at 17.1 percent
in a Reuters survey, down from a 17.8 percent gain in April.
Traders were also awaiting publication of the Monthly Oil
Market Report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries at 1030 GMT and its forecast for global oil demand
this year.
BP <BP.L> said in its annual Statistical Review of World
Energy released on Wednesday that world oil consumption fell 1.2
million barrels per day in 2009, the second consecutive annual
decline and the largest volume since 1982. []
World oil production dropped by 2 million bpd, or 2.6
percent, which was also the largest decline since 1982, the
British oil major said.
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
editing by James Jukwey)
