Oil prices eased below US$65 a barrel yesterday after hitting a new intraday high of US$65.30 over gasoline supply fears.
"With stock levels looking less prettier, gasoline will remain a key concern over the coming weeks," said Orrin Middleton, energy analyst at Barclays Capital in London.
The US inventories report on Wednesday showed a decline in gasoline stocks, triggering heightened concerns that a string of refinery shutdowns in the US will make it difficult for gasoline supplies to meet peak summer demand.
Market sentiment was cooled by a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasting slower global oil demand growth this year.
The Paris-based agency said in its monthly report yesterday that oil demand this year will be 150,000 barrels a day less then it expected, as China's oil demand continues to show signs of weakening.
Nevertheless, world oil demand will grow this year by 1.6 million barrels a day to 83.7 million barrels a day, IEA said.
Light, sweet crude fell US$0.13 to US$64.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after climbing to a session high of US$65.30.
Gasoline was trading at US$1.9035 a gallon (3.8 liters), up nearly US$0.01, while heating oil was down half a cent to US$1.8348.
Brent crude for delivery next month fell US$0.01 to US$63.98 on London's International Petroleum Exchange.
The IEA also warned that despite a rapid build in oil inventories during the first half of this year, more stocks are needed.
"Stocks have built rapidly in the first half of 2005, despite US$60 oil, but clearly, the market verdict remains more inventories are needed until investment responses catch up and demand patterns are clearer," the agency said.
Crude futures have risen 14 percent in the last three weeks, driven by an array of concerns about supply disruptions: US and Venezuelan refinery outages, the Atlantic hurricane season's impact on production in the Gulf of Mexico, the death of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd as well as tensions over Iran's nuclear program.
While oil prices are about 46 percent higher than a year ago, they would need to surpass US$90 a barrel to exceed the inflation-adjusted peak set in 1980.
The weekly US petroleum supply snapshot on Wednesday showed a drop in gasoline stocks by 2.1 million barrels to 203.1 million barrels, likely the result of at least seven US refinery outages in less than three weeks. It was sixth decline in a row for gasoline inventories.
Energy markets have been extremely jumpy about the refinery outages. Some traders said the troubles are evidence that the industry and its aging infrastructure are having difficulty maintaining output at high levels.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS