World oil prices faced a rollercoaster ride this week, tumbling on US demand concerns before rocketing higher on resurgent fears about the Iranian nuclear energy crisis, traders said.
Oil prices stormed higher on Friday after Washington set the weekend as a deadline for key crude producer Iran to reply to an international offer of incentives for a freeze in its nuclear drive.
“We expect a response this weekend,” Gonzalo Gallegos, a US State Department spokesman, told reporters without specifying whether it was yesterday or today.
In reaction, New York crude leapt as high as US$128.60 per barrel and London Brent oil soared as high as US$127.94.
Iran is the world’s fourth-largest crude oil producer and tension over its nuclear program helped push crude prices to record highs above US$147 a barrel on July 11.
The US and other major powers suspect Iran’s nuclear drive is aimed at making weapons, but Tehran insists its objective is energy production.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday there was no deadline and that his country had already replied. The US State Department had been vague about the deadline but narrowed it down on Friday.
A diplomatic source in Brussels said an Iranian response could come in the next few days but insisted that the international community wanted an answer from Iran.
Oil prices had tumbled on Thursday and earlier on Friday after weaker-than-expected US growth figures stoked fresh worries about the outlook for global energy demand.
The US Commerce Department reported the US economy grew an annualized 1.9 percent in the second quarter, missing the 2.3 percent growth expected by most forecasts.
It also revised fourth-quarter growth for last year to a 0.2 percent contraction — the first reversal for the US economy since the 2001 recession.
Oil prices began the week higher, rallying on Monday after militants attacked a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline in Nigeria, leading the Anglo-Dutch energy giant to reduce output.
The market reversed direction on Tuesday after a report that US gasoline consumption fell last week for the 14th week in a row, according to credit card firm Mastercard.
But prices rebounded by more than four dollars Wednesday on news of an unexpectedly sharp decline in US motor fuel stockpiles.
By Friday, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for September delivery rose sharply to US$126.76 a barrel, from US$124 a week earlier.
Brent North Sea crude for September climbed to US$126.20 from US$125.02.
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