* Coming up: EIA inventory statistics; 1430 GMT
* Cushing crude stockpiles fall from record -API
* Kuwait oil min says oil at $65 will draw OPEC attention
* For a technical view, click: []
* TAKE A LOOK at the Reuters Energy Summit: []
(Updates prices, details)
By David Sheppard
LONDON, May 26 (Reuters) - Oil rose by almost 3 percent on
Wednesday to climb back above $70 a barrel after a U.S. industry
report showed a steep drop in gasoline stockpiles in the world's
largest energy consumer.
Prices had slumped to lows near $67 a barrel at one stage on
Tuesday, pressured by concerns about the health of European
banks and mounting tensions between North and South Korea.
But a late rally on Wall Street that spread to Asia and
Europe on Wednesday lifted sentiment in the oil market. The
rebound was aided by a far larger-than-expected 3.2 million
barrels drop in U.S. gasoline stocks last week, reported by the
American Petroleum Institute (API). []
U.S. crude for July delivery <CLc1> was up $1.65 a barrel at
$70.40 at 1345 GMT. Brent traded up $1.46 at $71.01 a barrel.
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Please click here for a technical outlook for the oil price
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Traders said both commodity and equity markets were
benefiting from bargain hunters swooping after European shares
slumped to a nine-month low.
"The concerns that European economies are at risk of a double
dip appear to have receded, some of the selling appears to have
been exhausted, and positive economic indicators are in the
ascendant in relation to apparent deleveraging of risk by
financial markets," JP Morgan analyst Lawrence Eagles said.
New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rose by
more than expected in April, boosted by booking for expensive
aircraft, government data showed on Wednesday, but were down
excluding transportation for the first time in three months.
[]
Jean-Jaques Mosconi, head of strategy at French oil major
Total <TOTF.PA>, told Reuters Energy Summit prices were unlikely
to fall far below $70 a barrel as global demand was increasing.
"Europe is the big issue here. China is doing well, India is
growing, the Middle East is growing. Even the U.S. is
recovering," Mosconi said.
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Click the link below for Mosconi interview with Reuters Insider
http://link.reuters.com/zug36k
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Oil prices are still down by about 20 percent from the
19-month high of $87.15 hit in early May. Kuwait's Oil Minister
Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al Sabah said on Wednesday the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would
take notice if oil fell to $65 a barrel. []
MIXED CRUDE STOCKS
While the API reported gasoline stocks fell by far more than
the 200,000 decline predicted by analysts, stocks of distillates
and crude oil continued to climb.
Distillate inventories, including heating oil and diesel,
rose by 1.5 million barrels versus expectations of no change,
while the nation's total crude stockpiles rose 616,000 barrels.
However, crude stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery
point for the U.S. crude contract, fell for the first time in
weeks, shedding 772,000 barrels from a record 37.99 million.
[]
Later on Wednesday, traders will be watching the release of
weekly fuel stocks data from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the Department of
Energy, to see if they confirm the API numbers.
On Tuesday, the EIA said world oil demand will continue to
grow through 2030, but demand that year will be about 2.5
percent less than previously thought due to use of renewables
and higher oil prices. []
Global oil demand will average 103.9 million barrels per day
in 2030, down from the agency's 106.6 million bpd demand
estimate in last year's long-term outlook.
(For news from the Reuters Global Energy Summit, click on
http://www.reuters.com/summit/GlobalEnergy10?pid=500)
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
editing by James Jukwey)
