Brent crude oil jumped to a fresh record high above $74 a barrel on Thursday after a steep drop in U.S. gasoline stocks fuelled fears of tight summer supplies at a time of growing anxiety over Iran's exports.
IPE Brent crude climbed as high as $74.22 a barrel, its eighth consecutive session to mark a new peak. It was trading up 20 cents at $73.95 a barrel by 0822 GMT.
U.S. May crude oil futures rose 32 cents to $72.49 a barrel, its third day running to make a new all-time high.
Prices extended this month's blistering run after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected decline in weekly gasoline inventories of over 5 million barrels, a seventh draw that put them nearly 5 percent below last year's level.
"The dwindling stock levels for gasoline is a serious concern, especially... with the U.S. driving season ahead of us," said Tony Nunan, manager of the risk management business at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo. Stocks fell as imports thinned and demand for motor gasoline averaged over 9.1 million barrels per day (bpd), 0.8 percent more than a year earlier, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
The data also showed an unexpected 800,000-barrel draw in crude oil stocks, while distillates fell 2.8 million barrels but remained ahead of year-earlier levels.
"Healthy crude oil inventories have been keeping a lid on oil from rising further, but if we continue to see a drawdown in stock levels, that lid could come off," Nunan said.
Oil prices have tripled since 2002 and analysts see few signs of flagging as levels push closer to the early-1980s, inflation-adjusted peak of more than $80 a barrel, setting alarm bells ringing in consuming nations.