* China exports jump 48.5 pct in May, official data show
* IEA raises oil demand growth forecast for 2010
* For a technical view, click: [
]* Coming Up: euro zone rate decision at 1145 GMT (Updates throughout, changes dateline, pvs SINGAPORE)
By Christopher Johnson
LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - Oil climbed further above $74 per barrel on Thursday after news of a surge in Chinese exports in May and as the IEA revised up its estimate of global oil demand growth for this year.
China's exports rose 48.5 percent in May from a year earlier, beating forecasts of a 32 percent gain and confirming a Reuters report on Wednesday, which helped send oil up more than 3 percent. [
]U.S. crude for July <CLc1> rose 20 cents to $74.58 a barrel by 0850 GMT. ICE Brent <LCOc1> lost 9 cents to $74.18.
Asian stocks extended gains on Thursday on the strong Chinese data, which investors hope will ease fears about a slowdown in Europe. [
]European equity markets were also stronger. [
]Support for oil prices came from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which on Thursday revised up its estimate of global oil demand growth this year due to increased fuel use in the United States. [
]The IEA raised its global oil demand growth forecast by 70,000 barrels per day to 1.68 million bpd and said oil demand this year will hit 86.44 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 84.76 million bpd in 2009.
U.S. DEMAND
David Fyfe, head of the IEA's Oil Industry and Markets Division, said the upward revision was a response to further signs of a recovery in economic activity.
"The demand revision was a quite a minor one, but it was based on stronger demand for middle distillates in the United States," Fyfe said.
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To see a Reuters Insider TV interview with the IEA's David Fyfe, click: http://link.reuters.com/pub29k
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Much of the global growth this year has been coming from China but some economists question whether the momentum there can be sustained given debt problems in Europe, the country's biggest overseas market.
Leaked numbers cited by four separate market sources on Thursday pointed to an increase in Chinese industrial output of 16.5 percent in May from a year earlier, lower than expected. [
]China's May crude oil imports rose 4.3 percent from a year ago, but were off a record high hit in April. [
]U.S. crude has recovered almost $10 from below $65 on May 20, but is still down 15 percent from a 19-month peak on May 3.
U.S. crude stocks last week dropped a larger-than-expected 1.8 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. [
]That was the same amount by which stockpiles of distillates including heating oil and diesel increased as distillate demand slowed, showing a gain of 9.3 percent in the four weeks ended June 4, compared to 17 percent in the four weeks to May 28.
U.S. gasoline supplies were little changed last week, the EIA said.
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For a graphic showing the evolution of global crude and oil products in floating storage:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/10/OIL_FLTS0610.gif
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; editing by William Hardy)