Crude prices slid after oil workers in Norway called off a strike that had shut down about 8 percent of the country’s production.
Futures in London and New York both fell more than 1 percent on Friday.
The settlement would restore production at six fields shut down by the dispute and prevent an escalation to another six. It also averts the shutdown of Norway’s largest oil field, the 460,000 barrel-a-day Johan Sverdrup facility.
Still, Brent futures posted the largest weekly gain since June and US benchmark crude futures also advanced this week on supply disruptions from Hurricane Delta and optimism on a US stimulus deal.
“If the strike lasted into next week or even beyond, that would mean a significant additional amount of platforms and fields that were impacted by the strike,” Tradition Energy Group director Gary Cunningham said. “Now that it’s resolved, not only are the incremental curtailments not going to happen, but now the original production is going to come back online.”
Futures were boosted this week amid US President Donald Trump’s departure from the hospital following treatment for COVID-19 and mounting enthusiasm over a US virus aid package, which would help spur a demand recovery.
West Texas Intermediate crude for November deliver on Friday fell 1.43 percent to US$40.60 a barrel, but still posted a 9.6 percent weekly gain.
Brent crude for December delivery on Friday lost 1.13 percent to settle at US$42.85 a barrel, rising 9 percent for the week.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been forcing governments worldwide to rethink reopening plans: Spain’s government has declared a state of emergency for the Madrid region.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin on Friday headed into talks with US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, carrying a White House offer of US$1.8 trillion for economic stimulus, people familiar with the matter said.
The two spoke for about 30 minutes and Mnuchin’s proposal “attempted to address some of the concerns Democrats have,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said on Twitter.
“This is a very positive development,” Again Capital LLC partner John Kilduff said. “The petroleum complex needs a stimulus package as badly as any of the other asset classes, maybe even more so. To the extent that this gets the economy sort of stabilized, or maybe revived, that portends well for demand going forward.”
Hurricane Delta has weakened to a Category 2 storm with winds of 177kph. Energy companies have evacuated staff from offshore and onshore facilities.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS