Oil prices turned lower again on Friday as demand fell due to the global economic slowdown.
New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, shed US$1.29 to US42.38 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for March fell US$0.79 to US$44.60 on London’s InterContinental Exchange.
Oil prices ended slightly higher on Thursday after the US — the biggest energy consuming country — announced a sharp increase in its stockpiles, dealers said.
The US Department of Energy said crude inventories jumped 6.1 million barrels last week, far more than analyst expectations for an increase of about 2 million barrels.
“Volatile swings are likely to continue, with the [oil] market also tracking equities and the dollar,” VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.
Oil prices have plummeted from record highs above US$147 in July because of a worsening global economic slowdown that has dented demand.
Hopes of a pick-up in demand were not helped on Thursday when it was reported that unemployment claims had hit a 26-year high and housing construction fallen to half-century lows in the US.
The UK was meanwhile in recession for the first time since 1991, official data showed on Friday, triggering a plea from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for renewed international help to tackle the financial crisis.
The Office for National Statistics said GDP shrunk by 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the previous three-month period, when it contracted by 0.6 percent.
The generally-used technical definition of a recession is two quarters running of negative data.
Oil prices had jumped higher Wednesday on hopes that new US President Barack Obama would help pull the US out of recession.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry