Oil prices slumped yesterday after OPEC+ countries announced a sharp production increase despite oversupply concerns and growing fears that US President Donald Trump’s trade war could weaken demand.
Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other members of the oil cartel announced over the weekend an output increase of 411,000 barrels a day for next month, a month after a similar move had already caused prices to fall.
The price of crude has also been sliding because of fears of a global economic slowdown on the back of Trump’s tariff onslaught.
Photo: AFP
The OPEC+ move “confirms a stark turnaround away from the production cuts that have persisted since 2022,” Deutsche Bank AG said in a research note.
Oil prices fell almost 4 percent before paring back some losses. Brent, the international benchmark, was trading at just under US$60 per barrel at about 7:15am GMT.
Some analysts pointed to pressure from Trump to lower prices and expectations of declining Iranian oil exports amid tighter sanctions as possible reasons for the unexpected move.
Others said the motivation was unclear.
“The weekend news wasn’t a shocker, but the reasons behind the move remain uncertain,” Swissquote Bank Ltd senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said.
“The official communication says the group is bringing barrels back to the market because, fundamentals are healthy and inventories are low,” Ozkardeskaya said.
“Yet global growth expectations have been crumbling due to a heated trade war between the US and the rest of the world, and rising output only worsens oversupply concerns. So the real reason must be something else,” she added.
Some people said that the Saudis were “punishing” OPEC members who had not complied fully with the previous policy of cutting production, Ozkardeskaya said.
Other theories include that Trump wants to lower oil prices to hurt Russian finances and speed up the end of the Ukraine war, or that Riyadh wants to push out US shale businesses and increase its market share.
“We don’t know for sure. The exact motive remains unclear,” Ozkardeskaya said.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
RSS