Oil prices rose on Friday after Norway ordered production shut down at two offshore platforms, reducing flows by about 10 percent from the world's third-largest oil exporter.
A decline in US inventories of distillate, which includes heating oil, also played a part in the rally, and traders continued to watch OPEC for any sign that the cartel will cut output.
Saudi Arabia -- the largest producer in OPEC -- has yet to publicly confirm repeated statements from OPEC's president that members are "nearing consensus" on how to divvy up a 1 million-barrel-a-day reduction.
PHOTO: EPA
Venezuela's oil minister said on Friday that there was growing consensus within OPEC to cut crude output by 1 million barrels starting Dec. 1 to help shore up world prices.
"There's a proposal now to cut 1 million barrels a day," Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said in an interview with state television. "There is already consensus, which means the ministers agree on this. We call each other constantly, the minister of Iran, the minister of Qatar, the minister of Algeria, the secretary-general of OPEC, and there is already an agreement to do it."
Light sweet crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained US$0.71 to settle at US$58.57 a barrel. In London, November Brent crude on the ICE Futures exchange rose US$0.76 to settle at US$59.73 a barrel.
Since a July peak above US$78, the cost of crude has dropped more than 25 percent amid rising global inventories, concerns about slowing economic growth and a milder-than-anticipated hurricane season.
Prices have stabilized around the US$60-a-barrel level amid expectations that OPEC will try to prevent further sharp declines by trimming its output.
The group is scheduled to meet in December in Nigeria, though some members are calling for an emergency meeting before then.
"Oil prices may be down, but are likely not out," Wachovia economist Jason Schenker said in a research note.
Norwegian safety officials on Friday upheld an order to shut down two offshore oil platforms because of defects in their lifeboat systems. The order will delay production of about 280,000 barrels per day of oil from Norway's average daily production of about 2.7 million barrels of crude oil, light oil and natural gas liquids.
The state Petroleum Safety Authority on Thursday rejected applications for dispensations from lifeboat rules for Statoil ASA's Snorre A platform and Norske Shell ASA's Draugen platform, and said that amounted to an order to shut down.
On Thursday, the US Energy Information Administration said domestic inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, fell by 1.6 million barrels to 149.9 million barrels for the week ending Oct. 6, due primarily to a decline in refinery operation.
The drop in distillates was comprised almost entirely of falling heating oil inventories, which saw their largest decline since the week ending March 24.
Heating oil futures gained more than US$0.03 to settle at US$1.7178 a gallon (US$0.4538 per liter), while gasoline futures rose US$0.0175 to settle at US$1.4684 a gallon. Natural gas prices fell US$0.123 to settle at US$5.659 per 1,000 cubic feet (US$0.1998 per cubic meter).
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique