LONDON (Reuters) – Brent crude climbed for the third day to above $114 on Thursday, boosted by a higher-than-expected drop in U.S. crude stocks and growing investor appetite following bullish oil forecasts from major banks.

U.S. crude oil stocks fell by a more-than-expected 3.2 million barrels, according to the American Petroleum Institute ahead of a second stocks report on Thursday, tightening inventories in the top global oil consumer. <API/S>

LONDON (Reuters) – Rebels in east Libya will receive a fuels tanker on Tuesday into Benghazi, trade sources said, indicating the rebel government is still able to secure vital fuel supplies despite a lack of financing.

The Liberian-flagged oil products tanker Fidias is sailing south in the Mediterranean and due to arrive later on Tuesday, AIS Live ship tracking data on Reuters showed.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain may create a central stockholding agency for oil reserves following a warning that could face emergency stock shortages within the next 10 years, a spokesman at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)said.

Current stock levels are comfortable and well above the minimum requirement of 67.5 days of future consumption set by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

LONDON (Reuters) – European demand is too limp to absorb the 15 million barrels of fuels that the West’s energy watchdog aims to release over the next month and whatever supplies are sold will deepen the refining industry’s crisis.

The release, meant to stop high energy prices from stifling economic growth, amounts to around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of extra supply. This is equivalent to the output of about three medium-size refineries, at a time when over a fifth of capacity is already idle due to waning demand and Asian competition.

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil rose on Tuesday as an agreement by France to roll over holdings of mature Greek debt boosted the euro and helped whet investor appetite for riskier assets like commodities.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said French banks had reached a draft agreement with the authorities on a voluntary rollover of maturing bonds.

LONDON (Reuters) – The oil market super-contango of 2009 is likely to return, leading to a repeat of the lucrative buy-and-hold storage play in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the head of Lloyds oil division said on Monday.

Trading firms such as Trafigura earned record profits in 2009 from a steep market contango as the global economic slowdown depressed prompt prices relative to futures.

VIENNA (Reuters) – OPEC talks broke down in acrimony on Wednesday without an agreement to raise output after Saudi Arabia failed to convince the oil cartel to lift production.

“We were unable to reach an agreement — this is one of the worst meetings we have ever had,” said Ali al-Naimi, oil minister for Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer.

VIENNA (Reuters) – In a deeply divided OPEC, Nigeria was the only party willing to side with either camp, the head of its OPEC delegation told Reuters on Wednesday.

OPEC talks collapsed after a Saudi-led move to raise production for the first time in four years was met with strong opposition focussed on Iran and Venezuela.

VIENNA (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia faced stiff resistance on Wednesday from OPEC producers opposed to an increase in oil supplies that help ease crude prices.

Under pressure from consumer countries to contain fuel inflation, Saudi Arabia hopes to push the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to lift its production target by 1.5 million barrels a day at a meeting today, Gulf delegates said.

LONDON/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Angola is set to overcome technical problems to boost oil output to over 2 million barrels per day (bpd) next year and has the potential to overtake Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria.

Angola briefly replaced fellow OPEC member Nigeria in the number 1 spot in 2009, but patchy production in some fields and relative peace in the Niger Delta have reversed their standing.