OPEC has decided to keep output ceilings steady, Libya's chief oil official said yesterday. The 13-nation group also agreed to meet again at the end of next month to review its decision ahead of a regular March gathering, Nigerian Oil Minister Odein Ajumogobia said.
The announcement by Libya's Shokri Ghanem appeared to reflect OPEC concerns that it would be counterproductive to raise production ceilings at a time when prices have retreated about 10 percent from recent record highs.
There was no immediate formal confirmation. But just hours before Ghanem's comments, a three-nation OPEC advisory panel foreshadowed such a decision by recommending maintaining the status quo.
Reduced demand growth forecasts from both OPEC and the International Energy Agency have pushed prices down recently, along with the extra oil reaching markets from the last OPEC production increase and expectations of increased output from the United Arab Emirates.
A new US intelligence report concluding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 is also helping to keep a lid on the market.
While oil prices are still up nearly US$40 from the start of the year, they are down about 10 percent from the record near US$100 a barrel established last month.
Oil prices rose yesterday after the OPEC announcement to keep output levels unchanged, rebuffing consumer country calls for more crude to rein in prices now near US$90 a barrel.
US crude was up US$0.50 to US$88.82 a barrel at 0956 GMT. London Brent crude rose US$0.49 to US$90.02 a barrel, after ending above US oil for the first time since Aug. 23 on Monday.
Oil prices have fallen about 10 percent since peaking at US$99.29 on Nov. 21, and analysts questioned whether OPEC holding off on increasing output would lift prices again.
Jan Stuart, an economist with UBS Investment Research, said little has changed fundamentally, adding that "the sell-off appears to be driven by financial players underscoring the notion that it's not physical shortages of OPEC crude oil that drove prices to near US$100 in the first place."
The unfolding implications of the subprime mortgage crisis and its impact on the wider economy are expected to hit demand growth in the US, the world's largest energy consumer.
Traders said the release of US inventory data yesterday would give further price direction. Last week showed a build in stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub that is the delivery point for US crude futures.
A poll of analysts by Reuters ahead of yesterday's release of US inventory data showed crude stockpiles probably fell 800,000 barrels in the week to Nov. 30. Distillate stocks were seen down 300,000 barrels.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington had also supported the record rally that sent prices up 40 percent from August to late last month.
But a report released on Tuesday that grouped the findings of various US intelligence agencies contradicted the Bush administration's earlier assertion that Tehran was intent on developing a bomb.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)