Asian nations yesterday moved to release emergency oil stockpiles as part of a rare global coordinated action by consumer countries to prevent high energy prices from stunting a stuttering economic recovery.
The move, led by Washington and criticized by the oil industry as an unnecessary distortion of markets, suggests a fundamental shift on the part of industrialized nations toward intervention in commodity markets as an economic policy tool.
Brent oil prices edged back up yesterday after tumbling to a four-month closing low on Thursday, reflecting doubts that the unexpected decision by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 60 million barrels over the next month would have a long-term impact.
New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in August, edged up US$0.17 to US$91.19 a barrel after plummeting US$4.39, or 4.6 percent, on Thursday. In early London trading yesterday, Brent North Sea crude for August fell US$0.43 to US$106.83.
Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Kaoru Yosano said the move was a warning to speculative buyers, but Indian Oil Minister S. Jaipal Reddy doubted the action would have an impact.
“Even if there is a slight increase in production [supply], those gains will not be made available to us because of unbridled speculation in the financial markets of the world,” he said. “We don’t know whether this [weaker oil prices] is a stable trend.”
The stock release is only the third in the 37-year history of the agency, which was set up as a counter-weight to exporting group OPEC.
IEA Asian members Japan and South Korea said that from next week they would start releasing oil reserves in line with the agency’s targets.
Japan will cut the reserve requirement for oil companies by 7.9 million barrels over the next 30 days and South Korea will release 3.46 million barrels, together providing about 19 percent of the IEA target.
Australia and New Zealand, the remaining members from the Asia-Pacific region, are not participating.
The news follows a G20 agreement, struck in Paris on Thursday, to tackle high food prices by boosting farm output, food market transparency and policy coordination.
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
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
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
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