Oil prices eased yesterday but remained at elevated levels after a long US holiday weekend, as traders mulled an offer from crude producer Iran to hold talks on its nuclear drive.
Brent North Sea oil for next month delivery slid US$0.17 to US$144.25 a barrel in electronic deals. That was not far off the record high US$146.69 that was struck last Thursday.
New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, shed US$1.66 to US$143.63 yesterday. The contract had punched a life-time high of US$145.85 last Thursday.
US floor trading was shut on Friday but electronic trade continued over the Independence Day holiday.
Oil blazed a record-breaking trail last week, driven by geopolitical tensions over Iran, the weak US dollar and tightening global supplies, traders said.
Sky-high oil prices — which ramp up the cost of petrol, jet fuel, and domestic electricity and gas — have triggered fears about higher inflation and slower economic growth. They have also sparked protests around the world.
Over the weekend, Iran offered to negotiate on its nuclear drive but without a freeze on uranium enrichment, in its first comments since responding to an international package aimed at ending the standoff.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said yesterday he hoped to meet later this month with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, after Tehran gave its response to a package of incentives to halt uranium enrichment.
“There is some kind of relaxing on the part of Iran,” said Tony Nunan, a manager with Mitsubishi Corp’s international petroleum business in Tokyo.
“So any kind of reduction in tension there will take some of the price pressure off,” he said.
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
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