Oil prices headed south again this week, leaving them about US$20 off record highs amid a drop in fuel demand across the US, the world’s biggest consumer of energy.
Crude futures had risen earlier on Friday and on Thursday in what traders described as a technical rebound following two days of heavy falls.
Ken Hasegawa, manager of the energy desk at Newedge brokerage, cited by Dow Jones Newswires, said on Friday that the market would trade in a short-term range of US$123 to US$128.
On Wednesday, crude futures had tumbled by about US$4 after a bigger-than-expected increase in US gasoline reserves signaled weaker demand in the US.
At the same time, concerns eased over Hurricane Dolly in the Gulf of Mexico as the storm tracked away from oil installations there.
Oil prices have shot to a series of record highs this year, partly because of political tensions involving oil-producing nations like Iran, which refuses major powers’ demands to halt its disputed nuclear program. However prices have tumbled since striking record highs above US$147 on July 11.
Analysts said the US government’s latest weekly snapshot on energy inventories had suggested weaker demand for energy.
US gasoline stockpiles rose 2.9 million barrels in the week ending July 18, far outstripping analysts’ consensus forecasts for a gain of 200,000 barrels.
Gasoline consumption was also 2.4 percent lower compared to a year earlier as drivers faced sky-high pump prices of US$4.11 a gallon (3.78 liters) during a period when US demand for motor fuel is traditionally at a peak.
“The slide in crude [futures from recent highs] has been primarily driven by concerns of weaker demand as a result of higher prices, as economic problems persist,” said Michael Davies at the Sucden brokerage in London.
“Originally these fears focused on the US, with data there showing significantly lower demand for gasoline, but economic data has started to point to problems in Europe and slower growth in the key drivers of oil demand growth; China and India,” Davies said.
By Friday, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for September delivery slid to US$124 a barrel from US$131.15 a week earlier. Brent North Sea crude for September dropped to US$125.02 from US$132.30.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
RSS