World oil prices climbed to record highs above US$55 dollars a barrel in Asian trade yesterday as supply concerns that have driven the market all year continued to dominate the market, dealers said.
At 3:40pm, New York's main light sweet crude contract for November delivery was at US$55.30 a barrel, up from the close in New York on Friday of US$54.93.
The contract hit an intra-day high of US$55.33. The previous record was US$55 seen during Friday trade in New York.
Traders and industry analysts said data released last week showing commercial heating oil supplies were dropping in the US was still having a slight impact on rising global prices.
But they said a continuation of the wide range of supply factors that have seen oil prices surge nearly 70 percent this year were the fundamental reasons for the new spike in Asian trade.
"I don't think there's anything in particular that has really driven prices up today," said Daniel Hynes, an oil industry analyst with ANZ Bank in Australia.
Gerard Rigby, Singapore-based deputy head of trading for China Aviation Oil, agreed the rise in prices at the start of the week was due to the general shortage of supplies.
Crude oil prices have soared this year on concerns that producers are pumping at almost full capacity to meet voracious global demand, particularly from China and India.
Rigby said factors currently leading market sentiment were the low stocks of heating oil in the US and Europe before the northern winter, as well as production in the Gulf of Mexico still being down 462,000 barrels per day due to last month's Hurricane Ivan.
With no major easing of the supply shortage foreseeable, Rigby said prices would continue to climb toward US$60 and higher.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique