Huang Guangyu who was used to be one of the richest man in China was convicted of corruption along with a few government officials. Being a dropout in the past, his success was an inspiration for him as he was able to build his fortune from scratch by starting a small business ending up with over 1300 stores across China. In order to get more corporate benefits he bribed 5 government officials with cash and property. It is human nature to gain more benefits for themselves as well as increase their fortune and greed got the better of them. With increasing fortune and living a luxurious life they are afraid of losing it all and hence will stop at nothing just to continue leading their sort of life. Greed made them turn a blind eye towards up righteousness and they resorted to illegal concepts to gain more personal benefits. In the eyes of the law, corporate benefits should not be illegally given out through bribes but should be earned respectfully. The arrest of these men is the first stepping stone to enable more businessmen and women to be more knowledgeable about the seriousness of corruption. (Bribery, etc) In conclusion, a successful business would only be respected if it is through hard work and determination but not through such underhand activities.
-benjamin
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
WORLD NEWS
US approves massive sea burn to stem oil disaster
Posted: 29 April 2010 0136 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
File picture shows fire boats battling the blazing offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Crews began controlled burns on Wednesday of a giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, but a cruel wind shift raised fears the spill could hit Louisiana's fragile shores by the weekend.
The leading edge of the crude was about 16 miles (26 kilometres) off the Louisiana coast by Wednesday evening and winds were expected to strengthen and crucially change direction on Thursday to start coming from the southeast.
Two skimming vessels dispatched by the US Coast Guard and energy giant British Petroleum (BP) swept the thickest concentrations of oil into a 500-foot (150-metre) fire resistant boom.
They then towed it to a five mile "burn zone" set up inside the slick roughly 50 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi where it was set alight a few hours before nightfall.
"They lit it with a little float that has a fuel source on it that floats into the oil and ignites. It did successfully ignite," Coast Guard petty officer Cory Mendenhall told AFP.
The decision to start burning the slick, which has a 600-mile (965-kilometre) circumference, gained even greater import when the US government's weather service warned that the previously kind winds were about to shift.
"Stronger southeast winds are forecast to persist from Thursday night through Saturday night," a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast chart presented to journalists showed.
"These onshore winds will move floating oil towards the delta with possible shoreline impacts by Friday night."
If large quantities of the crude, which is leaking from the debris of a rig that sank after a deadly explosion last week, drift into Louisiana's marshy wetlands, mopping up would be next to impossible.
It would be disastrous for natural parks full of waterfowl and rare wildlife and could also imperil the southern state's 2.4-billion-dollar a year fisheries industry, which produces a significant portion of US seafood.
As miles of inflatable booms were set up to protect the Louisiana coast, Governor Bobby Jindal evoked memories of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated his southern state in August 2005.
"As I've said many times before, we must hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Jindal said, after a flyover of the spill. "We're approaching this situation just as we would do before a hurricane comes ashore."
"We're doing everything we can to protect the livelihood of our citizens who make their living in the fishing industry and the wildlife that grace our coastal areas."
Oil, at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, is spewing from the riser pipe that connected the Deepwater Horizon platform to the wellhead before the rig sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers.
The widow of one of the dead has filed a lawsuit accusing the companies that operated the rig - BP, Transocean and US oil services behemoth Halliburton - of negligence.
The accident has not disrupted offshore gulf oil production, which accounts for more than a quarter of the US energy supply.
BP, which leased the semi-submersible rig from Houston-based contractor Transocean, has been operating four robotic submarines some 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) down on the seabed to try and cap the well.
They have failed so far to fully activate a giant 450-tonne valve, called a blowout preventer, that should have shut off the oil as soon as the disaster happened but only partially reduced the flow.
As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks to trap the oil, allowing it to be pumped up to container ships on the surface.
Another Transocean drilling rig is also on stand-by to drill two relief wells that could divert the oil flow to new pipes and storage vessels.
But that would take up to three months and the dome is seen as a better interim bet even though engineers need two to four weeks to build it.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, who is leading the government's response to the disaster, warned on Tuesday that if BP fails to secure the well it could end up being "one of the most significant oil spills in US history." - AFP/de
My comments:
The soaring oil prices are partially due to these kinds of incidents. Firstly, the accident was a human error and commuters like us are paying the price due to the mistakes of others. The approval of burning the oil spills in the ocean by the U.S to prevent pollution but why didn’t they try to store some of the oil and save it up instead of wasting it all away. Oil, at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, is spewing from the riser pipe that connected the Deepwater Horizon platform to the wellhead before the rig sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers. Robotic submarines have been sent to cap the well but to no avail. They have failed so far to fully activate a giant 450-tonne valve, called a blowout preventer that should have shut off the oil as soon as the disaster happened but only partially reduced the flow. As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks to trap the oil, allowing it to be pumped up to container ships on the surface. In conclusion, burning of the oil should not be the only solution.
US approves massive sea burn to stem oil disaster
Posted: 29 April 2010 0136 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
File picture shows fire boats battling the blazing offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Crews began controlled burns on Wednesday of a giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, but a cruel wind shift raised fears the spill could hit Louisiana's fragile shores by the weekend.
The leading edge of the crude was about 16 miles (26 kilometres) off the Louisiana coast by Wednesday evening and winds were expected to strengthen and crucially change direction on Thursday to start coming from the southeast.
Two skimming vessels dispatched by the US Coast Guard and energy giant British Petroleum (BP) swept the thickest concentrations of oil into a 500-foot (150-metre) fire resistant boom.
They then towed it to a five mile "burn zone" set up inside the slick roughly 50 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi where it was set alight a few hours before nightfall.
"They lit it with a little float that has a fuel source on it that floats into the oil and ignites. It did successfully ignite," Coast Guard petty officer Cory Mendenhall told AFP.
The decision to start burning the slick, which has a 600-mile (965-kilometre) circumference, gained even greater import when the US government's weather service warned that the previously kind winds were about to shift.
"Stronger southeast winds are forecast to persist from Thursday night through Saturday night," a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast chart presented to journalists showed.
"These onshore winds will move floating oil towards the delta with possible shoreline impacts by Friday night."
If large quantities of the crude, which is leaking from the debris of a rig that sank after a deadly explosion last week, drift into Louisiana's marshy wetlands, mopping up would be next to impossible.
It would be disastrous for natural parks full of waterfowl and rare wildlife and could also imperil the southern state's 2.4-billion-dollar a year fisheries industry, which produces a significant portion of US seafood.
As miles of inflatable booms were set up to protect the Louisiana coast, Governor Bobby Jindal evoked memories of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated his southern state in August 2005.
"As I've said many times before, we must hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Jindal said, after a flyover of the spill. "We're approaching this situation just as we would do before a hurricane comes ashore."
"We're doing everything we can to protect the livelihood of our citizens who make their living in the fishing industry and the wildlife that grace our coastal areas."
Oil, at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, is spewing from the riser pipe that connected the Deepwater Horizon platform to the wellhead before the rig sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers.
The widow of one of the dead has filed a lawsuit accusing the companies that operated the rig - BP, Transocean and US oil services behemoth Halliburton - of negligence.
The accident has not disrupted offshore gulf oil production, which accounts for more than a quarter of the US energy supply.
BP, which leased the semi-submersible rig from Houston-based contractor Transocean, has been operating four robotic submarines some 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) down on the seabed to try and cap the well.
They have failed so far to fully activate a giant 450-tonne valve, called a blowout preventer, that should have shut off the oil as soon as the disaster happened but only partially reduced the flow.
As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks to trap the oil, allowing it to be pumped up to container ships on the surface.
Another Transocean drilling rig is also on stand-by to drill two relief wells that could divert the oil flow to new pipes and storage vessels.
But that would take up to three months and the dome is seen as a better interim bet even though engineers need two to four weeks to build it.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, who is leading the government's response to the disaster, warned on Tuesday that if BP fails to secure the well it could end up being "one of the most significant oil spills in US history." - AFP/de
My comments:
The soaring oil prices are partially due to these kinds of incidents. Firstly, the accident was a human error and commuters like us are paying the price due to the mistakes of others. The approval of burning the oil spills in the ocean by the U.S to prevent pollution but why didn’t they try to store some of the oil and save it up instead of wasting it all away. Oil, at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, is spewing from the riser pipe that connected the Deepwater Horizon platform to the wellhead before the rig sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers. Robotic submarines have been sent to cap the well but to no avail. They have failed so far to fully activate a giant 450-tonne valve, called a blowout preventer that should have shut off the oil as soon as the disaster happened but only partially reduced the flow. As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks to trap the oil, allowing it to be pumped up to container ships on the surface. In conclusion, burning of the oil should not be the only solution.
WORLD NEWS
US approves massive sea burn to stem oil disaster
Posted: 29 April 2010 0136 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
File picture shows fire boats battling the blazing offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Crews began controlled burns on Wednesday of a giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, but a cruel wind shift raised fears the spill could hit Louisiana's fragile shores by the weekend.
The leading edge of the crude was about 16 miles (26 kilometres) off the Louisiana coast by Wednesday evening and winds were expected to strengthen and crucially change direction on Thursday to start coming from the southeast.
Two skimming vessels dispatched by the US Coast Guard and energy giant British Petroleum (BP) swept the thickest concentrations of oil into a 500-foot (150-metre) fire resistant boom.
They then towed it to a five mile "burn zone" set up inside the slick roughly 50 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi where it was set alight a few hours before nightfall.
"They lit it with a little float that has a fuel source on it that floats into the oil and ignites. It did successfully ignite," Coast Guard petty officer Cory Mendenhall told AFP.
The decision to start burning the slick, which has a 600-mile (965-kilometre) circumference, gained even greater import when the US government's weather service warned that the previously kind winds were about to shift.
"Stronger southeast winds are forecast to persist from Thursday night through Saturday night," a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast chart presented to journalists showed.
"These onshore winds will move floating oil towards the delta with possible shoreline impacts by Friday night."
If large quantities of the crude, which is leaking from the debris of a rig that sank after a deadly explosion last week, drift into Louisiana's marshy wetlands, mopping up would be next to impossible.
It would be disastrous for natural parks full of waterfowl and rare wildlife and could also imperil the southern state's 2.4-billion-dollar a year fisheries industry, which produces a significant portion of US seafood.
As miles of inflatable booms were set up to protect the Louisiana coast, Governor Bobby Jindal evoked memories of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated his southern state in August 2005.
"As I've said many times before, we must hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Jindal said, after a flyover of the spill. "We're approaching this situation just as we would do before a hurricane comes ashore."
"We're doing everything we can to protect the livelihood of our citizens who make their living in the fishing industry and the wildlife that grace our coastal areas."
Oil, at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, is spewing from the riser pipe that connected the Deepwater Horizon platform to the wellhead before the rig sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers.
The widow of one of the dead has filed a lawsuit accusing the companies that operated the rig - BP, Transocean and US oil services behemoth Halliburton - of negligence.
The accident has not disrupted offshore gulf oil production, which accounts for more than a quarter of the US energy supply.
BP, which leased the semi-submersible rig from Houston-based contractor Transocean, has been operating four robotic submarines some 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) down on the seabed to try and cap the well.
They have failed so far to fully activate a giant 450-tonne valve, called a blowout preventer, that should have shut off the oil as soon as the disaster happened but only partially reduced the flow.
As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks to trap the oil, allowing it to be pumped up to container ships on the surface.
Another Transocean drilling rig is also on stand-by to drill two relief wells that could divert the oil flow to new pipes and storage vessels.
But that would take up to three months and the dome is seen as a better interim bet even though engineers need two to four weeks to build it.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, who is leading the government's response to the disaster, warned on Tuesday that if BP fails to secure the well it could end up being "one of the most significant oil spills in US history." - AFP/de
My comments:
The soaring oil prices are partially due to these kinds of incidents. Firstly, the accident was a human error and commuters like us are paying the price due to the mistakes of others. The approval of burning the oil spills in the ocean by the U.S to prevent pollution but why didn’t they try to store some of the oil and save it up instead of wasting it all away. Oil, at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, is spewing from the riser pipe that connected the Deepwater Horizon platform to the wellhead before the rig sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers. Robotic submarines have been sent to cap the well but to no avail. They have failed so far to fully activate a giant 450-tonne valve, called a blowout preventer that should have shut off the oil as soon as the disaster happened but only partially reduced the flow. As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks to trap the oil, allowing it to be pumped up to container ships on the surface. In conclusion, burning of the oil should not be the only solution.
US approves massive sea burn to stem oil disaster
Posted: 29 April 2010 0136 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
File picture shows fire boats battling the blazing offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Crews began controlled burns on Wednesday of a giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, but a cruel wind shift raised fears the spill could hit Louisiana's fragile shores by the weekend.
The leading edge of the crude was about 16 miles (26 kilometres) off the Louisiana coast by Wednesday evening and winds were expected to strengthen and crucially change direction on Thursday to start coming from the southeast.
Two skimming vessels dispatched by the US Coast Guard and energy giant British Petroleum (BP) swept the thickest concentrations of oil into a 500-foot (150-metre) fire resistant boom.
They then towed it to a five mile "burn zone" set up inside the slick roughly 50 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi where it was set alight a few hours before nightfall.
"They lit it with a little float that has a fuel source on it that floats into the oil and ignites. It did successfully ignite," Coast Guard petty officer Cory Mendenhall told AFP.
The decision to start burning the slick, which has a 600-mile (965-kilometre) circumference, gained even greater import when the US government's weather service warned that the previously kind winds were about to shift.
"Stronger southeast winds are forecast to persist from Thursday night through Saturday night," a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast chart presented to journalists showed.
"These onshore winds will move floating oil towards the delta with possible shoreline impacts by Friday night."
If large quantities of the crude, which is leaking from the debris of a rig that sank after a deadly explosion last week, drift into Louisiana's marshy wetlands, mopping up would be next to impossible.
It would be disastrous for natural parks full of waterfowl and rare wildlife and could also imperil the southern state's 2.4-billion-dollar a year fisheries industry, which produces a significant portion of US seafood.
As miles of inflatable booms were set up to protect the Louisiana coast, Governor Bobby Jindal evoked memories of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated his southern state in August 2005.
"As I've said many times before, we must hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Jindal said, after a flyover of the spill. "We're approaching this situation just as we would do before a hurricane comes ashore."
"We're doing everything we can to protect the livelihood of our citizens who make their living in the fishing industry and the wildlife that grace our coastal areas."
Oil, at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, is spewing from the riser pipe that connected the Deepwater Horizon platform to the wellhead before the rig sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers.
The widow of one of the dead has filed a lawsuit accusing the companies that operated the rig - BP, Transocean and US oil services behemoth Halliburton - of negligence.
The accident has not disrupted offshore gulf oil production, which accounts for more than a quarter of the US energy supply.
BP, which leased the semi-submersible rig from Houston-based contractor Transocean, has been operating four robotic submarines some 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) down on the seabed to try and cap the well.
They have failed so far to fully activate a giant 450-tonne valve, called a blowout preventer, that should have shut off the oil as soon as the disaster happened but only partially reduced the flow.
As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks to trap the oil, allowing it to be pumped up to container ships on the surface.
Another Transocean drilling rig is also on stand-by to drill two relief wells that could divert the oil flow to new pipes and storage vessels.
But that would take up to three months and the dome is seen as a better interim bet even though engineers need two to four weeks to build it.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, who is leading the government's response to the disaster, warned on Tuesday that if BP fails to secure the well it could end up being "one of the most significant oil spills in US history." - AFP/de
My comments:
The soaring oil prices are partially due to these kinds of incidents. Firstly, the accident was a human error and commuters like us are paying the price due to the mistakes of others. The approval of burning the oil spills in the ocean by the U.S to prevent pollution but why didn’t they try to store some of the oil and save it up instead of wasting it all away. Oil, at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, is spewing from the riser pipe that connected the Deepwater Horizon platform to the wellhead before the rig sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers. Robotic submarines have been sent to cap the well but to no avail. They have failed so far to fully activate a giant 450-tonne valve, called a blowout preventer that should have shut off the oil as soon as the disaster happened but only partially reduced the flow. As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks to trap the oil, allowing it to be pumped up to container ships on the surface. In conclusion, burning of the oil should not be the only solution.
Genes influence smoking addiction: study
Posted: 26 April 2010 0856 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
PARIS: Starting smoking and addiction to it could be driven to a large degree by your genes, a trio of studies published on Sunday suggested.
Researchers reported that single yet widely prevalent changes in the DNA code on several chromosomes were associated with a range of smoking habits.
The papers, published online in the journal Nature Genetics, are based on a trawl through the genome of more than 140,000 people, gathering smokers and non-smokers.
A flag was raised over a variant on a gene on Chromosome 11 that was strongly linked to smoking initiation, and another on Chromosome 9 that was associated with quitting smoking.
People with variants of genes on Chromosomes 8 and 19 were likelier to smoke more cigarettes -- about half a cigarette extra per day -- and run a 10-per cent higher risk of lung cancer compared to non-carriers, another of the studies added.
The findings add to a basket of known gene variants linked to smoking vulnerability.
Together, they contribute towards diagnostic tools to identify people who may have a high inherited risk from tobacco.
"Smoking is bad for anyone's health," said Kari Stefansson, head of deCODE, an Icelandic company which specialises in genomic data-mining and which led one of the papers.
"It is even worse for some, and today's discoveries continue to strengthen our ability to identify whose those people are and giving them a compelling reason to quit."
Still unclear is the metabolic pathway by which these genes confer the risk, said Stefansson.
The link between lung cancer and smoking has been established for more than half a century.
But scientists are still trying to answer why there remain big variations in how much people smoke, their ease in kicking the habit and susceptibility to disease.
Premature deaths attributable to tobacco smoking are expected to rise to 6.4 million in 2015 and 8.3 million in 2030, according to research published in 2007 in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine. - AFP/fa
Serene Chow Hui wen
Personally, I am not a fan of smoking. I strongly think that smoking is bad for health, smoking is not cool. In the past, whenever I walk pass anyone smoking, I will ask myself this question, ‘Don’t they know that smoking is bad for their health? Have they ever thought of quitting smoke?’ I have a friend, when he was asked whether he have ever wanted to quit smoking, he replied that smoking was mind refreshing and he will never ever quit smoking.
Until i read this article, I always have the mentality that if people put in effort in quitting smoking, they can do it. But in reality, not everyone can quit smoking so easily. They need to have more of chromosome 9 if they want to quit smoking because as reported, Chromosome 9 is associated with quitting smoking.
Also certain chromosomes affect people in different ways. Chromosomes 8 and 19 were likelier to smoke more cigarettes, whereas Chromosome 11 that was strongly linked to smoking initiation. This really educated me on the facts about our body, how our chromosomes affect how humans look at smoking. Now, i still cannot believe that smokers who started smoking reason mainly are that they have more of a certain chromosomes present in them.
Posted: 26 April 2010 0856 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
PARIS: Starting smoking and addiction to it could be driven to a large degree by your genes, a trio of studies published on Sunday suggested.
Researchers reported that single yet widely prevalent changes in the DNA code on several chromosomes were associated with a range of smoking habits.
The papers, published online in the journal Nature Genetics, are based on a trawl through the genome of more than 140,000 people, gathering smokers and non-smokers.
A flag was raised over a variant on a gene on Chromosome 11 that was strongly linked to smoking initiation, and another on Chromosome 9 that was associated with quitting smoking.
People with variants of genes on Chromosomes 8 and 19 were likelier to smoke more cigarettes -- about half a cigarette extra per day -- and run a 10-per cent higher risk of lung cancer compared to non-carriers, another of the studies added.
The findings add to a basket of known gene variants linked to smoking vulnerability.
Together, they contribute towards diagnostic tools to identify people who may have a high inherited risk from tobacco.
"Smoking is bad for anyone's health," said Kari Stefansson, head of deCODE, an Icelandic company which specialises in genomic data-mining and which led one of the papers.
"It is even worse for some, and today's discoveries continue to strengthen our ability to identify whose those people are and giving them a compelling reason to quit."
Still unclear is the metabolic pathway by which these genes confer the risk, said Stefansson.
The link between lung cancer and smoking has been established for more than half a century.
But scientists are still trying to answer why there remain big variations in how much people smoke, their ease in kicking the habit and susceptibility to disease.
Premature deaths attributable to tobacco smoking are expected to rise to 6.4 million in 2015 and 8.3 million in 2030, according to research published in 2007 in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine. - AFP/fa
Serene Chow Hui wen
Personally, I am not a fan of smoking. I strongly think that smoking is bad for health, smoking is not cool. In the past, whenever I walk pass anyone smoking, I will ask myself this question, ‘Don’t they know that smoking is bad for their health? Have they ever thought of quitting smoke?’ I have a friend, when he was asked whether he have ever wanted to quit smoking, he replied that smoking was mind refreshing and he will never ever quit smoking.
Until i read this article, I always have the mentality that if people put in effort in quitting smoking, they can do it. But in reality, not everyone can quit smoking so easily. They need to have more of chromosome 9 if they want to quit smoking because as reported, Chromosome 9 is associated with quitting smoking.
Also certain chromosomes affect people in different ways. Chromosomes 8 and 19 were likelier to smoke more cigarettes, whereas Chromosome 11 that was strongly linked to smoking initiation. This really educated me on the facts about our body, how our chromosomes affect how humans look at smoking. Now, i still cannot believe that smokers who started smoking reason mainly are that they have more of a certain chromosomes present in them.
Oil prices up after US stock report
Posted: 29 April 2010 0543 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
An Iraqi oil refinery.
NEW YORK: World oil prices rose dramatically late Wednesday, after a day of being rocked by the Greek crisis and the strengthening dollar.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for June, rose 78 cents to 83.22 dollars a barrel.
London's Brent North Sea crude for June rose 38 cents to 86.16 dollars per barrel.
A late rally overcame a downward trend throughout the day.
"They waited till the last minute to show their hands," said Ellis Eckland, an independent analyst.
As markets prepared to close, news trickled in that the US Federal Reserve had kept interest rates at ultra-low levels, further stimulating the economy.
Earlier, the US Department of Energy (DoE) said crude reserves increased by 1.9 million barrels in the week ending April 23, indicating weaker demand.
Market expectations had been for a gain of around 800,000 barrels.
"People were expecting those terrible inventories numbers, now they're going long because they think the trend is going to change." Eckland added.
Crude oil had also fallen earlier Wednesday on heightened concerns about a Greek financial crisis after its sovereign debt was slashed to junk status, fanning fears of a default.
Barclays Capital analysts said that the market was "sharply pressurised by rising concerns over Greece's debt problems."
A fierce global equities sell-off began on Tuesday after ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut Greek debt to junk, while a downgrade to Portugal also stoked concerns about a widening eurozone crisis.
In the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, the European single currency plunged to 1.3143 dollars - a low last seen in April 2009.
A stronger US currency makes dollar-denominated crude oil more expensive to holders of weaker units, dampening demand and leading to lower prices.
"S&P's cutting Greek sovereign debt to junk status, along with their downgrading of Portugal's rating, sent shivers through the euro against other currencies and global markets, with all the expected consequences," said PVM oil analyst Philip Wiper.
"Stock markets worldwide fell more than two percent (on Tuesday) and oil prices inevitably went with them."
Greece faces a May 19 deadline to repay nine billion euros (12 billion dollars) in maturing debt. The downgrade by credit ratings agency S&P effectively shuts down its access to private capital. - AFP/de
My comment
Oil prices rose late Wednesday, due the Greek’s financial crisis. Due to this financial crisis caused by Greece, Light Sweet Crude and London Brent’s North Sea Crude rose at 78 cents to 83.22 dollars and a 38 cents to a 86.16 dollars respectively. In order to stimulate the economy, the US Federal Reserve kept its interst rates to at bay. Given that Greece is currently facing financial crisis, its crude oil prices had fallen, as well as its outstanding debts of 9 billion Euros. The reason as to why I choose this article is because I feel that a financial problem faced by any particular country across the globe will affect the rest of the world worldwide financially and economically. For example, as reported in the article above, stock markets worldwide fell to more then 2% and oil prices inevitably went with them. In my opinion, I feel that the rest of the globe shoyld not just sit on fences and do nothing about it. Although Greek’s financial crisis solely affected Greece and US, it was reported that sotck markets worldwide were affected. Even though Singapore is just a small country, we should also try out utmost best to help Greece solve its financial crisis as soon as posible, in order to keep the economy back on track.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/1053273/1/.html
Source by:
Posted: 29 April 2010 0543 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
An Iraqi oil refinery.
NEW YORK: World oil prices rose dramatically late Wednesday, after a day of being rocked by the Greek crisis and the strengthening dollar.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for June, rose 78 cents to 83.22 dollars a barrel.
London's Brent North Sea crude for June rose 38 cents to 86.16 dollars per barrel.
A late rally overcame a downward trend throughout the day.
"They waited till the last minute to show their hands," said Ellis Eckland, an independent analyst.
As markets prepared to close, news trickled in that the US Federal Reserve had kept interest rates at ultra-low levels, further stimulating the economy.
Earlier, the US Department of Energy (DoE) said crude reserves increased by 1.9 million barrels in the week ending April 23, indicating weaker demand.
Market expectations had been for a gain of around 800,000 barrels.
"People were expecting those terrible inventories numbers, now they're going long because they think the trend is going to change." Eckland added.
Crude oil had also fallen earlier Wednesday on heightened concerns about a Greek financial crisis after its sovereign debt was slashed to junk status, fanning fears of a default.
Barclays Capital analysts said that the market was "sharply pressurised by rising concerns over Greece's debt problems."
A fierce global equities sell-off began on Tuesday after ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut Greek debt to junk, while a downgrade to Portugal also stoked concerns about a widening eurozone crisis.
In the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, the European single currency plunged to 1.3143 dollars - a low last seen in April 2009.
A stronger US currency makes dollar-denominated crude oil more expensive to holders of weaker units, dampening demand and leading to lower prices.
"S&P's cutting Greek sovereign debt to junk status, along with their downgrading of Portugal's rating, sent shivers through the euro against other currencies and global markets, with all the expected consequences," said PVM oil analyst Philip Wiper.
"Stock markets worldwide fell more than two percent (on Tuesday) and oil prices inevitably went with them."
Greece faces a May 19 deadline to repay nine billion euros (12 billion dollars) in maturing debt. The downgrade by credit ratings agency S&P effectively shuts down its access to private capital. - AFP/de
My comment
Oil prices rose late Wednesday, due the Greek’s financial crisis. Due to this financial crisis caused by Greece, Light Sweet Crude and London Brent’s North Sea Crude rose at 78 cents to 83.22 dollars and a 38 cents to a 86.16 dollars respectively. In order to stimulate the economy, the US Federal Reserve kept its interst rates to at bay. Given that Greece is currently facing financial crisis, its crude oil prices had fallen, as well as its outstanding debts of 9 billion Euros. The reason as to why I choose this article is because I feel that a financial problem faced by any particular country across the globe will affect the rest of the world worldwide financially and economically. For example, as reported in the article above, stock markets worldwide fell to more then 2% and oil prices inevitably went with them. In my opinion, I feel that the rest of the globe shoyld not just sit on fences and do nothing about it. Although Greek’s financial crisis solely affected Greece and US, it was reported that sotck markets worldwide were affected. Even though Singapore is just a small country, we should also try out utmost best to help Greece solve its financial crisis as soon as posible, in order to keep the economy back on track.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/1053273/1/.html
Source by:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)