Crude futures jumped more than US$1 a barrel yesterday, driven up by concerns that a tropical depression brewing in the Caribbean may grow into a hurricane and could threaten the US Gulf of Mexico and oil facilities there.
Light, sweet crude for delivery next month rose US$1.18 to US$63.81 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract slipped US$0.45 to US$62.63 a barrel.
December Brent futures on the International Petroleum Exchange in London rose US$1.10 to US$60.58 a barrel.
Heating oil gained US$0.0455 to US$1.9955 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline climbed US$0.0569 to US$1.8055. Natural gas rose US$0.662 to US$13.881 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Storm warning
Tropical Depression 24, a slow-moving system that formed on Saturday, was expected to become Tropical Storm Wilma, which would make it the 21st named storm of the season, tying the 1933 record for the most storms in an Atlantic season, the US' National Hurricane Center in Miami said on Sunday.
The depression, now centered about 245km southeast of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, could grow into a hurricane by today and move into the southeastern Gulf, with winds over 161kph by Friday, the center said.
Most US oil production and refineries are in the central and western Gulf. Forecasting the storm's direction is extremely difficult at this early stage, but traders are nervous about yet more damage to oil facilities after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"The tropical depression is certainly within the radar screens of traders, though it seems to be too early to tell whether it would develop into a storm, and its direction," Victor Shum, energy analyst at Texas-headquartered Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said.
Winter demand
After surging above US$70 a barrel in late August, oil prices have fallen in recent weeks, although there are plenty of concerns about the pace of recovery following Rita, and whether supplies will be adequate as winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere, when demand for heating oil peaks.
"The market is on edge; it's looking for directions. There's a lot of volatility now, which is characteristic of a tight supply situation," Shum said.
The US federal Minerals Management Service reported on Friday a slight uptick in Gulf of Mexico oil production, putting the amount of shut-in output at about 1 million barrels a day, or 67.3 percent of total daily output, down slightly from the 68.8 percent seen on Thursday.
There was virtually no improvement in natural gas output, with some 5.65 billion cubic feet a day of output off line, or 56.5 percent of the total, the minerals service said in a daily update.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS