US oil prices climbed over US$30 a barrel on Friday as the market woke up to a growing perception that OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia was determined to rein in production to keep prices high.
Buying was spurred by speculators, but analysts and traders said the price was supported by many fundamental factors, including the sense that supplies in the fourth quarter will be limited and demand good.
New York light crude oil futures climbed US$0.56 to US$30.40 per barrel, the highest settlement in five week, while London Brent crude oil was up US$0.44 to US$28.71 a barrel.
Prices are up roughly 12 percent since OPEC decided on Sept. 24 to cut production by 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 24.5 million bpd from Nov. 1.
A Reuters output survey showed Saudi Arabia cut production sharply last month to make room for growing Iraqi output, paving the way to reach the new, lower OPEC production quotas, which shocked the market when they were announced.
"There are a lot of things in the back of the mind which are all pointing to the possibility for production to be a little bit lower, for demand to be a little bit higher," said Barclays Capital oil market analyst Kevin Norrish.
"The numbers indicate that Saudi Arabia is very much determined to cut," he said, adding that there was also concern over winter fuel availability.
Tropical storm Larry lurking in the southern Gulf of Mexico, meanwhile, forced shut three Mexican oil ports -- raising concerns that some US refineries might need to reduce operations due to delayed shipments of oil.
Shell Deer Park, a joint venture refiner of Royal Dutch/Shell Group's Shell Oil and Mexico's Pemex, said on Friday it expected its Texas plant to run at near normal rates at least through the weekend.
The storm, which is not expected to hit the Mexican coast until next week, was seen as being too far south to disrupt US oil and gas operations in the Gulf.
Other factors were mixed. OPEC member Nigeria's two main oil unions deferred a threatened strike against fuel price liberalization, ostensibly a price-negative factor, traders said.
Nigeria's two unions gave the government a week to resolve a clash over plans to deregulate fuel prices.
But the country's umbrella labor union, the Nigeria Labor Congress, has signaled that protests could start as soon as this weekend.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS