Oil capped the biggest weekly loss since November last year after surging US supplies erased three months of gains that followed OPEC’s deal to cut output.
US crude stockpiles have expanded to a record for four straight weeks and output has climbed to the highest level in more than a year, government data showed on Wednesday.
Declines accelerated on Friday after a report showed US oil drilling rose for an eighth straight week.
US crude stockpiles inventories last week rose by 8.2 million barrels to 528.4 million, the highest level in weekly data compiled by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) since 1982.
Output advanced for a third week to 9.09 million barrels per day, the most since February last year, the EIA reported on Wednesday.
“The market is still digesting this week’s high inventory number,” Mark Watkins, the Park City, Utah-based regional investment manager for the Private Client Group at US Bank, which oversees US$136 billion in assets, said by telephone. “The shock number had the market test the US$50 band and then break through. The next two weeks should be volatile, with prices potentially falling to the US$45 level.”
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery on Friday fell US$0.79, or 1.6 percent, to US$48.49 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 9 percent from last week’s US$53.33 per barrel. Total volume traded was 29 percent above the 100-day average.
Brent for May settlement declined US$0.82, or 1.6 percent, to US$51.37 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.
It was also the lowest close since late November last year. The contract is down 8 percent from last week’s US$55.90. Brent ended the session at a US$2.34 premium to May WTI.
US oil rig count rose by eight to 617 this week, the highest since September 2015, according to Baker Hughes Inc data.
“The break of the band yesterday is a sign that the market was overbought,” Gene McGillian, manager of market research for Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, said by telephone.
Oil market news:
‧ Oil output in the Permian Basin, which straddles the Texas-New Mexico border, will rise by 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day in the year through December and “a lot of that” will be exported, Mike Loya, the head of Vitol in the Americas, said in an interview.
‧ BP PLC’s shares surged the most this year after a London newspaper reported on rumors that Exxon Mobil Corp sounded out major shareholders over a potential takeover.
‧ Implied volatility is climbing, typically an indicator that investors believe prices are set to fall and risk perception is worsening.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last