Oil rose yesterday as Saudi Arabia offered reassurance that OPEC would keep global crude markets in balance after concerns over the US-China trade dispute triggered the steepest monthly slump this year.
Futures gained 1.7 percent in New York after another plunge on Friday concluded last month’s 16 percent sell-off, which was driven by worries that the trade dispute would crimp fuel demand.
Saudi Arabian Minister of Energy and Industry Khalid al-Falih said that recent volatility was “unwarranted” and reiterated his confidence that OPEC and its allies will keep taking action to stabilize the market beyond this month.
Photo: Reuters
The trade tensions mean oil has moved close to the edge of a bear market, having fallen about 18 percent from a high in late April.
A tense situation in the Middle East has not been enough to support prices. There could be greater clarity this week on whether Russia will keep cooperating with Saudi Arabia on production cuts as ministers from the countries meet in St Petersburg, Russia.
“The market was overwhelmed by general bearish sentiment last week,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, Oslo-based chief commodities analyst at SEB AB. “Oil is not immune to global growth weakness but there is now a significant risk that the market is overselling.”
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July rose US$0.93 to US$54.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 8:21am, after falling as much as US$1.39 earlier. The contract is now down about 18 percent from its closing high on April 23.
Brent for August settlement advanced US$0.66 to US$62.65 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. The July contract closed 3.6 percent lower at US$64.49 before expiring on Friday. The global benchmark crude was trading at a premium of US$8.08 to WTI.
There could be a recession in nine months if the US imposes 25 percent tariffs on an additional US$300 billion of Chinese exports and Beijing retaliates, Morgan Stanley said.
Investors might still be underestimating the risks to the global economy from the trade dispute, Chetan Ahya, the bank’s chief economist, wrote in a note released on Sunday.
“I would like to reiterate my confidence, based on my discussions with several key producers, and on our track record, that we will do what is needed to sustain market stability beyond June,” al-Falih said in an interview with state-run Saudi Press Agency. “We have previously stated our commitment to do whatever it takes to stabilize markets and we have delivered on those promises. And I am making that commitment again.”
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)