World oil prices fell on Friday on worries about weak energy demand in the US and about the strength of China’s economy, traders said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, sank US$0.98 to US$75.15 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March dropped US$1.06 to US$73.52 a barrel.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday said that gasoline reserves in the world’s biggest economy increased by a stronger-than-expected 3.9 million barrels in the week ending on Jan. 15, striking a two-year high.
It also said refineries operated at 78.4 percent of capacity last week, their lowest rate in at least two decades apart from the immediate aftermath of a hurricane.
“The DOE report was not very bullish [price-supportive]. The refineries’ capacities were down at around 78 percent and that was their lowest in the two decades,” ANZ bank oil analyst Serene Lim said.
However, US crude stocks fell 400,000 barrels, the DOE report said, confounding expectations of a large gain of 1.9 million barrels.
The US is the world’s largest energy consuming country, followed by China.
Meanwhile, moves by China to slow down its roaring economy also weighed on oil prices.
“I think people are very concerned about what the Chinese government would do next to curb the consumption demand growth,” Lim said.
China’s economy expanded 10.7 percent last quarter and by 8.7 percent for the whole of last year.
Oil prices jumped by about 80 percent last year as traders were heartened by evidence that the battered global economy was on the mend, with the eurozone, Japan and the US escaping a fierce recession.
However crude futures have struggled to make much headway early this year as economic data disappoints.
On Tuesday, the OPEC oil producers’ cartel left unchanged its forecast for annual oil demand growth. OPEC said in this month’s report that world oil demand this year was forecast to grow by 0.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to average 85.1 million bpd, representing no major change from last month.
OPEC member the United Arab Emirates on Monday said it was comfortable with current price levels.
UAE Energy Minister Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli said world oil prices were “very reasonable” at the moment.
Asked if he preferred prices to be in excess of US$100 a barrel, he told reporters on the sidelines of a four-day alternative energy forum in the UAE capital: “I don’t like over 100 and don’t like 30.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique