Oil prices inched lower on Friday from a strong rally the previous day as the market awaited the outcome of this weekend’s OPEC and G20 meetings.
New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, fell US$0.78 to close at US$46.25 a barrel ahead of today’s OPEC meeting in Vienna.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for April dropped US$0.16 to settle at US$44.93 a barrel.
The New York contract had traded slightly higher throughout most of the session before profit-taking set in ahead of the close, a day after a powerful rally of US$4.70, or more than 10 percent.
Prices on Friday for the most part treaded water, reflecting the mixed speculation on whether OPEC will cut production further.
The market also was focused on a G20 finance chiefs meeting near London yesterday aimed at tackling the global economic crisis and financial regulatory reform.
“Two important conferences are occurring simultaneously: a meeting of OPEC officials trying to fix production targets and the G20 finance ministers who are attempting to coordinate global economic policy. We expect both to produce nothing more than window dressing,” Mike Fitzpatrick at MF Global said.
OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of world crude, agreed late last year on cuts to reduce output by 4.2 million barrels per day.
OPEC on Friday expressed its fears about low oil prices, which have tumbled from record heights above US$147 a barrel last July as a vicious global economic downturn slams demand for energy.
Despite its output cuts, oil prices could continue to fall because of the global economic slump and the erosion of demand, OPEC warned on Friday.
“With continued economic deterioration and demand erosion as well as the impending low demand season, there is likelihood of renewed pressure on prices,” the cartel said in its latest monthly report.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
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.
RSS