Brent crude futures were higher this morning as they approached multi-year highs set earlier in the week.
Comments from the head of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, who said the cartel is committed to supplying the market with more oil, did little to bring the market off the boil.
At 11.45 a.m., July-dated Brent crude futures were 22 cents higher at $38.12 per barrel.
Ahead of the New York market's opening, NYMEX's US June-dated contract was 15 cents higher at $41.68 per barrel, while the exchange's gasoline contract rose to $145.05 per gallon.
Official data from the US Department of Energy revealed last night gasoline stocks rose only 1.2 million barrels to 203.7 million in the week to May 14th while inventories of cleaner reformulated gasoline rose 400,000 barrels - both far below forecasts.
In addition, crude stocks slipped one million barrels, taking them back under the key 300 million-barrel mark.