Oil prices fell nearly 4 percent on Friday after the International Energy Agency said big consuming countries were more comfortably supplied than it previously thought.
US light crude tumbled US$1.18 to US$30.33 a barrel, extending Thursday's sharp losses and pulling prices back from recent 12-week highs above US$32. London August Brent crude fell US$0.87 to US$26.35 a barrel.
PHOTO: AFP
Prices fell as the Paris-based IEA, energy adviser to 26 industrialized nations, said its previous estimate of oil stock levels was 79 million barrels too low.
The agency's revised estimate put oil stocks in the industrialized world for the end of April at 2.439 billion barrels,
"Stocks are still below normal and can absorb some surplus in the third quarter, but I think we have entered a stage when more supply is coming on the market and will impact prices," said Geoff Pyne, oil market consultant to Sempra Energy Trading.
The IEA said the revision did not change its view that global markets were tight. Stocks are still 157 million barrels, or 6.5 percent, below last year.
"The market is obviously better supplied than we thought as little as two weeks ago, but stocks are still low and fundamentals are still tight, so we need to build more stocks," said Klaus Rehaag, editor of the IEA monthly oil market report.
"The increase in crude stocks may, however, signal some relief for an otherwise tighter heating oil situation later this year," he added
Oil stocks have been drawn down this year by a harsh northern winter and supply disruptions from a strike in Venezuela, ethnic strife in Nigeria and the war in Iraq.
Iraq on Thursday sold its first oil since the US-led invasion nearly three months ago, but looting and sabotage at oil facilities are expected to keep Iraq's exports well below prewar levels for several months.
The delays in Iraq's postwar export resumption enabled the OPEC producer cartel to postpone fresh supply cuts at Wednesday's meeting in Qatar.
OPEC, which controls about half the world's oil exports, decided to meet again in just seven weeks, on July 31, in case the return of Iraqi shipments undermines high prices.
OPEC sets a US$22 to US$28 target range for its basket of seven grades of crude oil. The basket was last valued at US$27.48.
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
UNIFYING OPPOSITION: Numerous companies have registered complaints over the potential levies, bringing together rival automakers in voicing their reservations US President Donald Trump is readying plans for industry-specific tariffs to kick in alongside his country-by-country duties in two weeks, ramping up his push to reshape the US’ standing in the global trading system by penalizing purchases from abroad. Administration officials could release details of Trump’s planned 50 percent duty on copper in the days before they are set to take effect on Friday next week, a person familiar with the matter said. That is the same date Trump’s “reciprocal” levies on products from more than 100 nations are slated to begin. Trump on Tuesday said that he is likely to impose tariffs
HELPING HAND: Approving the sale of H20s could give China the edge it needs to capture market share and become the global standard, a US representative said The US President Donald Trump administration’s decision allowing Nvidia Corp to resume shipments of its H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China risks bolstering Beijing’s military capabilities and expanding its capacity to compete with the US, the head of the US House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said. “The H20, which is a cost-effective and powerful AI inference chip, far surpasses China’s indigenous capability and would therefore provide a substantial increase to China’s AI development,” committee chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, said on Friday in a letter to US Secretary of
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
RSS