Oil prices hit fresh records yesterday, climbing close to US$45 after a fire at a big US refinery and a renewed threat to Russian oil major underlined the strain on world supplies.
US light crude struck US$44.77 a barrel, US$0.36 up from Tues-day's settlement and the highest in the 21-year history of crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
London's Brent crude hit US$41.50 a barrel, a record for the contract since it started trading in 1988 on the International Petroleum Exchange.
Oil has rallied more than 30 percent this year as rapid demand growth, especially in the US and China, leaves little leeway for any supply disruption. Consumption is accelerating at the fastest pace in more than 20 years.
The latest in a string of rallies this week came after a fire shut a gasoline-producing unit at BP Plc's 470,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Texas, the third-biggest plant in the US. The flash fire was quickly extinguished.
Gains were reinforced after a financial source said that Russian oil major Yukos had no money in its bank accounts after bailiffs seized US$900 million on Thursday to cover the firm's back tax bill.
Yukos, which pumps 1.7 million bpd, or 2 percent of world supplies, is battling bankruptcy from a multi-billion dollar tax debt, threatening its ability to continue exports.
"Production needs can still survive for a few weeks, but time is coming to pay for transportation fees," a financial source said.
Yukos has repeatedly warned it needs at least US$400 million on its Russian bank accounts to fund core operations such as transportation fees to ensure oil exports.
"All we can say is that we still haven't got a new bailiffs' order that freezes our bank accounts again," Yukos spokesman Alexander Shadrin said.
Yukos has said it had pre-paid this month's transportation fees to pipeline monopoly Transneft but would need to find money by the middle of the month to pay for exports next month.
Fears of inadequate supply have been deepened by security concerns in Saudi Arabia and Iraq as well as uncertainty in Venezuela and Nigeria -- all OPEC members.
"All the supply side issues at the moment are making it extremely difficult to get a good handle on the market," said David Hynes, an oil industry analyst at ANZ Bank in Melbourne.
The OPEC, which controls half of the world's crude exports, is pumping at the highest levels since 1979 as it tries to stem oil's relentless rise.
OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday that output was running at 30 million barrels daily and the group was ready to lift production by 1 million to 1.5 million bpd if it was decided necessary when ministers meet next month.
OPEC ministers are scheduled to meet in Vienna on Sept. 15 to review output policy, but only Saudi Arabia, the world's top exporter, has any significant spare capacity to increase supply.
"We are meeting in September and we are ready to increase production if it is necessary with immediate additional production between 1 million and 1.5 million bpd," Purnomo said.
OPEC lifted its official output limits by 500,000 bpd to 26 million bpd on Aug. 1. The limits exclude Iraq, which is struggling to rebuild its oil industry.
Iraqi exports ran at about 1.5 million bpd last month and are expected to rise to between 1.7 and 1.8 million bpd this month.
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
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
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
‘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)