World crude prices firmed on Friday after news of a potential terrorist threat to energy installations in the Gulf and specifically in Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, rose US$0.39 to close at US$60.75 a barrel.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for December delivery added US$0.31 cents to settle at US$61.08 a barrel.
Western naval forces said they feared possible attacks on oil installations in the Gulf, and Saudi Arabia said its facilities were a "high-probability potential target," but that tight security measures were in place.
"All of us immediately looked up when we heard the news, but we also got reassuring news from the navy [coalition] that at least they are covering the water approaches," Societe General analyst Deborah White said.
"The biggest danger is at sea, because you can come from so many different directions and you can have a relatively small boat that could be carrying a relatively large bomb," she said.
"But if in fact they have taken the normal attack-at-sea precautions then they are probably safe, which is why it was only a momentary blip" in oil prices, White added.
Saudi Arabia pumps more than 9 million barrels of oil per day and sits on a quarter of global oil reserves.
Saudi interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said threats to his country's oil facilities by terrorist groups were ongoing.
"There are preventive measures in any installation, be it Ras Tannura or others, to prevent any terrorist operation," he said.
Crude futures had traded in negative territory for much of Friday as worries over output eased in major oil producers Norway and Nigeria.
Both New York and London Brent contracts closed down more than a dollar on Thursday due to profit-taking.
That came after crude prices had jumped more than two dollars on Wednesday owing to renewed supply concerns as US heating stocks fell ahead of the northern hemisphere winter.
The fall in US inventories suggested to some traders that the 11-nation OPEC cartel was going through on a promise a week ago to reduce output by 1.2 million barrels a day.
OPEC is battling to support crude prices, which stand about 25 percent lower than record highs above US$78 reached in July and August.
In Norway, meanwhile, state energy giant Statoil resumed production at its Snorre A platform in the North Sea after a two-week halt caused by safety problems.
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