AP, SINGAPORE
Oil prices rebounded yesterday in Asia to near US$117 a barrel on concerns a widening conflict between Russia and Georgia over a breakaway province could disrupt supplies in the region.
Light, sweet crude for next month delivery rose US$1.64 to US$116.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract fell US$4.82 on Friday to settle at US$115.20 a barrel.
“The market is watching what happens there closely,” said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank in Melbourne. “It’s not a major oil producer, but there are major transport links to Europe through that region.”
US President George W. Bush sharply criticized Moscow’s harsh military crackdown in Georgia yesterday, saying the violence is unacceptable and Russia’s response was disproportionate.
On Sunday, Vice President Dick Cheney told Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili that “Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States,” Cheney’s office reported.
In London, Brent crude for delivery next month rose US$1.77 to US$115.10 a barrel.
NYMEX crude is still down about US$30 from its high of US$147.27 on July 11, and many investors see the drop-off in prices as a buying opportunity.
“Losses have been pretty sharp in the last few weeks and there’s always someone looking to buy on the dip,” Pervan said.
Oil rose despite a stronger dollar. The euro fell to US$1.4975 against the dollar in Asian currency trade, while the dollar is holding near ¥110.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS