Crude oil prices soared past US$61 a barrel to two-week highs as news broke that the ruler of the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, died yesterday.
Minutes after the news of the Saudi Arabian king's death broke out in Singapore, light, sweet crude for September delivery spiked US$0.60 to reach US$61.11 a barrel, its highest in more than two weeks. It is currently at US$61.07 a barrel, up US$0.31.
Prices were also supported by Iran's threat on Sunday to restart its nuclear enrichment program, sparking fears that tension between Tehran and Western nations could disrupt oil supplies from OPEC's second's largest exporter.
Oil futures hit an intraday record of US$62.10 a barrel on July 7. Prices are around 40 percent higher than year-ago levels but would need to reach US$90 to reach the all-time inflated adjusted high set in 1980.
Heating oil was up by a penny and a half to at US$1.6915 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline gained a cent at US$1.7404 a gallon.
September Brent futures at London's International Petroleum Exchange opened US$0.48 up at US$59.85 a barrel, before slipping to US$59.60.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Iran on Sunday threatened to restart uranium reprocessing work if negotiators from Britain, France and Germany do not immediately offer a promised package of incentives to entice Tehran to freeze its nuclear program.
Analysts believe the world's excess capacity is limited, which means producer nations are not likely to meet demand if supply is disrupted from geopolitical tensions or other unplanned outages, such as weather-linked shutdowns.
Strikes, terrorism, oil disputes in Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran helped push prices upward all of last year.
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The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
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