1.   Crude oil and refined products futures at the New York Mercantile Exchange plunged to six-week lows Thursday on a surprise build in gasoline stocks.

2.   Gasoline stocks are near their lowest level on record for this time of year.

3.   The agency is predicting that shortages could crop up in the Midwest, the East Coast and Gulf Coast states, where gasoline stocks are lower than usual.

4.   After markets closed, API reported a slight build in the national inventory of motor gasoline stocks.

5.   Analysts said another drawdown in gasoline stocks could help lift prices again.

6.   But it urged member countries to increase gasoline stocks and step up use of substitutes.

7.   Evans said that recent production cutbacks by refiners partly led traders to shrug off the build in gasoline stocks.

8.   Gasoline stocks rose in both reports, but like the build in crude stocks, the increase in gasoline inventories was shrugged off by traders, analysts said.

9.   Gasoline futures prices also were sharply lower, reflecting continued concern about a recent American Petroleum Institute report of an increase in gasoline stocks.

10.   Gasoline stocks are near or above year-ago levels.