New York crude oil prices stretched as high as US$120.50 per barrel on Thursday as traders eyed stormy weather in the Gulf of Mexico, where many US energy facilities are located.
After breaching US$120, prices closed sharply lower as traders discounted the threat of Tropical Storm Gustav.
But they moved higher again on Friday ahead of a three-day holiday weekend in the US. About a quarter of US crude oil installations are located in the Gulf of Mexico.
“The focus is likely to remain on Tropical Storm Gustav and potential supply disruptions during the weekend and earlier next week,” Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.
As Gustav advanced, oil companies were pulling employees off installations.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC has evacuated nearly 670 workers. The company said production will be affected. BP PLC was also removing personnel from the region, while Exxon Mobil said it was bracing its structures for heavy wind and rain.
Transocean Inc, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, said on Thursday it had evacuated about 190 workers from five of its 11 offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf. Transocean has 1,550 workers in the region.
The threat of Gustav raised grim memories of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita that damaged or destroyed about 165 oil platforms of the some 4,000 located in the Gulf.
Oil markets this week also tracked escalating tensions between Georgia and Russia, the world’s biggest oil producer.
The US, the largest energy consumer, is worried that in the wake of the Russian-Georgian conflict, US strategic interests in Ukraine and Azerbaijan — especially in oil — could be at serious risk.
The clearest sign of US concern is that US Vice President Dick Cheney will travel to Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan next week, analysts said.
Despite climbing above US$120, prices are still well short of record highs above US$147 reached last month.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell US$0.13 to settle at US$115.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday.
In London, October Brent crude fell US$0.12 to settle at US$114.05 a barrel.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS