Oil prices inched lower on Friday from a strong rally the previous day as the market awaited the outcome of this weekend’s OPEC and G20 meetings.
New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, fell US$0.78 to close at US$46.25 a barrel ahead of today’s OPEC meeting in Vienna.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for April dropped US$0.16 to settle at US$44.93 a barrel.
The New York contract had traded slightly higher throughout most of the session before profit-taking set in ahead of the close, a day after a powerful rally of US$4.70, or more than 10 percent.
Prices on Friday for the most part treaded water, reflecting the mixed speculation on whether OPEC will cut production further.
The market also was focused on a G20 finance chiefs meeting near London yesterday aimed at tackling the global economic crisis and financial regulatory reform.
“Two important conferences are occurring simultaneously: a meeting of OPEC officials trying to fix production targets and the G20 finance ministers who are attempting to coordinate global economic policy. We expect both to produce nothing more than window dressing,” Mike Fitzpatrick at MF Global said.
OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of world crude, agreed late last year on cuts to reduce output by 4.2 million barrels per day.
OPEC on Friday expressed its fears about low oil prices, which have tumbled from record heights above US$147 a barrel last July as a vicious global economic downturn slams demand for energy.
Despite its output cuts, oil prices could continue to fall because of the global economic slump and the erosion of demand, OPEC warned on Friday.
“With continued economic deterioration and demand erosion as well as the impending low demand season, there is likelihood of renewed pressure on prices,” the cartel said in its latest monthly report.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS