World crude oil prices soared Friday as traders turned cautious amid cold temperatures in the US while bracing for the upcoming OPEC meeting and landmark Iraqi elections.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March jumped US$1.22 to US$48.53 a barrel in closing trade.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in March gained 1.41 dollars to close at US$45.73.
"The market is concerned about an OPEC production cut and worried about the elections in Iraq" that could see an increase in violence, said Phil Flynn at Alaron Trading.
Temperatures hit a low of minus 11?C in New York on Thursday, prompting renewed concerns about supplies of heating oil in the northeast.
"The cold weather just knocked in," said Jamal Qureshi, analyst at PFC Energy, who added that the market remained tense over concerns about demand from China and OPEC's upcoming meeting.
There are fears that violence could spoil polling day on Jan. 30, risking disruption to oil supplies out of Iraq.
On Friday, insurgents sabotaged an oil pipeline in northern Iraq, interrupting the flow of crude to a major refinery, Iraqi police said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was meanwhile set to meet on the same day as the Iraqi elections -- and the likelihood of a production cut has caused mounting market tension.
OPEC on Friday said that global oil demand growth would be stronger than expected in 2005 and said its output would be "more than sufficient" to meet consumer needs.
OPEC said it was raising its forecast for global oil demand growth this year to 83.64 million barrels per day, marking an increase of two percent on 2004.
The 11-member cartel agreed in Cairo last month to reduce production by one million barrels a day from the start of 2005 to bring the group closer to its official output ceiling of 27 million barrels.
Expectations of an output cut have increased in recent days after the United States announced further builds in its crude stockpiles.
"If they do intend to cut production prices are definitely going to go above US$50," said Qureshi.
"As US stocks build there are concerns that OPEC may seek to make an additional cut in crude supply, after agreeing to trim over-quota leakage by a million barrels per day from Jan. 1," analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm said.
US crude oil reserves rose by 3.4 million barrels to 292.2 million in the week that ended Jan. 14, a Department of Energy report said and are now 8 percent above the level during the same period a year ago.
The report showed however a dip of heating oil reserves of 500,000 barrels to 49.1 million -- a worry due to a cold snap in the US' northeast region, which consumes 80 percent of the country's heating fuel.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure