Oil climbs above , focus on gasoline stock draw

SEOUL, Mar 22 (Reuters) Oil extended gains above on Thursday, driven by a sharper-than-anticipated fall in gasoline stocks in the United States that heightened fears over a summer supply squeeze in the world's biggest consumer.

U.S. light, sweet crude for May delivery was up 46 cents at .07 a barrel by 0751 GMT, while Brent crude was up 50 cents at .27 a barrel.

U.S. gasoline inventories fell last week by 3.4 million barrels, twice the volume predicted by analysts, government data showed on Wednesday. That overshadowed a bigger-than-forecast 4.0 million barrel rise in crude oil stocks.

''The drawdown was unexpectedly steep, almost twice the amount expected, and the market is responding to that,'' said Koo Cha-Kwon, analyst at the Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC).

Distillate stocks fell by 1.7 million barrels, exceeding expectations and marking an eight consecutive weekly decline.

Refinery glitches, unusually early maintenance and robust demand growth have caused gasoline stocks to fall for six weeks in a row, raising concerns of a crunch leading into the summer driving season in the world's top consumer.

Critically, gasoline blending imports necessary for summer grade gasoline reached their lowest level since last October.

Doug Leggate of Citigroup Investment Research said forward demand cover for gasoline and distillates continued to trend towards the bottom of the normal seasonal range.

Oil prices have bounced between and a barrel since early February as dealers play it safe ahead of the weak demand spring season, but summer factors will soon come into focus.

London-based forecaster Tropical Storm Risk said the six-month hurricane season, which begins on June 1, was expected to bring 17 tropical storms, of which nine will strengthen into hurricane winds of at least 74 miles (119 km) per hour, raising the risk of oil disruptions.

The - a barrel range is considered by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as reasonable for upstream investment as well as economic growth and the cartel aims to keep prices at that level.

''We would hope to maintain prices as they are today, which are not only conducive to (our) investment but also to developing alternatives that will complement our efforts to meet the world's future energy needs,'' said Hasan Qabazard, head of OPEC's research arm.

''Prices today we believe are reasonable. We hope these prices will stay in the level where they are, between - a barrel. We believe they will stay in this range for the coming few years,'' he told reporters in Bangkok where he is accompanying OPEC President Mohammed bin Dhaen al-Hamli at an energy forum.

But al-Hamli, also oil minister of the United Arab Emirates, said the group did not have any ''trigger price'' that would prompt it to convene an emergency meeting before September.

OPEC agreed last week to keep its 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in output curbs in place for the time being.

REUTERS CS HS1424