Brent crude sunk below US$50 a barrel as estimates showed Nigerian production rose last month, following repairs to infrastructure that had been damaged by militant attacks.
Futures in London dropped as much as 1 percent after slipping 0.5 percent on Monday.
Nigeria pumped an average of 1.53 million barrels a day last month, an increase of about 90,000 a day from May, according to a Bloomberg survey.
US east coast gasoline supplies rose to a record as the US Energy Information Administration said consumption of the fuel in April was less than estimated in weekly reports.
Crude has risen this year, with Brent gaining more than 75 percent from a 12-year low in January, amid supply disruptions and falling US output. US shale drillers have brought back the most oil rigs of any week this year amid expectations of a stabilizing market.
“Nigeria raising its output and US drillers bringing back rigs removes the global supply disruptions which have recently been the main driver of oil’s recovery,” Seoul-based NH Investment & Securities Co commodities analyst Kang Yoo-jin said by telephone. “Lower-than-expected gasoline demand in the US, despite the summer driving season, is also adding downward pressure on oil prices.”
Brent for September settlement fell as much as US$0.48 to US$49.62 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and traded at US$49.69 a barrel at 12:30pm Seoul time. The contract lost US$0.25 to US$50.10 on Monday. The global benchmark crude was at a US$0.67 premium to WTI for September delivery.
West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was at US$48.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down US$0.65, from Friday’s close. There was no settlement on Monday because of the Independence Day holiday in the US.
Production in Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, rose to 10.33 million barrels a day, a monthly gain of 70,000 a day. The kingdom typically boosts output in summer months as it burns more crude to generate electricity to power air conditioners. Libya boosted output in June by 40,000 barrels a day to 320,000.
Gasoline stockpiles along the US East Coast surged to a record 72.5 million barrels in the week ended June 24, EIA data show. Imports to the region jumped to a six-year seasonal high. Production climbed to a record in the previous week, as refiners typically run harder in the second quarter to meet summer peak driving season.
The end of a split in Libya’s National Oil Corp marks a small step toward healing the divided country, but the political stalemate that shut down of most its crude production is as entrenched as ever. Lebanon might soon approve measures to push ahead with a stalled first auction of offshore oil and natural gas rights, ending years of political wrangling as it tries to catch up in a regional race to tap energy wealth in the eastern Mediterranean.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last