Crude oil prices rose in Asia yesterday -- spiking above US$92 a barrel at one point -- on a rumbling of tensions in the Middle East and renewed concerns about oil supplies.
Lebanese troops fired on Israeli warplanes on Thursday, and while a conflict between Israel and Lebanon would not directly affect oil supplies, traders worry any hostilities in the Middle East would draw in oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Also, the US announced on Thursday new sanctions against Iran, targeting the elite Revolutionary Guards, which Washington accuses of supporting terrorism by backing Shiite militants in Iraq. Any confrontation between the world's largest oil consumer and its fourth-largest oil producer has the potential to roil markets.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose US$1.47 to US$91.93 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. It briefly rose to a new trading record of US$92.22 during Asian trading.
The Nymex crude contract jumped US$3.36 to settle at US$90.46 a barrel on Thursday in the US, closing above US$90 a barrel for the first time.
Amid the tensions, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Abdalla el-Badri told the Wall Street Journal Asia on Thursday that the cartel was not in discussions to boost production by 500,000 barrels.
The comments counter rumors that Saudi Arabia is pushing for another production increase after pressuring the group into one of similar size that goes into effect next Thursday.
And while US crude stocks fell to a nine-month low last week, Dow Jones Newswires reported that Oil Movements, a company that tracks oil tanker traffic, said extra crude shipments from OPEC members next month would grow more slowly than anticipated.
Energy traders also remain concerned that a threatened incursion by Turkish armed forces into Iraq in search of Kurdish rebels would cut oil supplies.
The combination of supply worries and geopolitical concerns has pushed crude oil prices up more than 6 percent since Tuesday.
Prices first jumped sharply on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported that oil inventories fell 5.3 million barrels last week when analysts had expected them to grow 300,000 barrels. That report reversed a three-day downward price trend and put energy traders back in a bullish mood, analysts said.
December Brent crude rose US$1.27 to US$88.75 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London. Nymex heating oil futures rose US$0.0242 to US$2.4326 a gallon (3.8 liters), while gasoline prices advanced US$0.0289 to US$2.2647 a gallon. November natural gas futures fell US$0.042 to US$7.146 per 1,000 cubic feet (28.3 cubic meters).
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS