Oil goes above $75 per barrel
Oil rose past $75 on Wednesday, as a weaker dollar allowed it to shrug off an industry report showing surprise gains in U.S. inventories.
The outlook for oil demand in the United States remained sluggish after the Federal Reserve on Tuesday stopped short of laying out a timetable to provide more stimulus to the economy, following a one-day meeting to set policy.
But confirmation by the Fed that overnight interest rates will remain near zero and expectations the U.S. central bank would print more dollars sent the greenback to a seven-week low against the euro. A weaker dollar means improved oil-purchasing power for holders of other currencies.
U.S. crude for November, the front-month contract after October went off the board on Tuesday, rose 33 cents to $75.30 by 0517 GMT, having slipped as much as 32 cents earlier. ICE Brent for November added 8 cents to $78.50.
“Toward the next two weeks, oil prices will be supported by the weak dollar,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives manager at Japan’s Newedge brokerage.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tokyo was ready to act for a second time since 2004 if the yen moved sharply, keeping traders on guard against further intervention.
STOCKPILE SURPRISES
U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels last week, against expectations for a 1.9-million barrel drop, as imports increased despite an outage on a pipeline carrying Canadian crude to the United States, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday.
“Inventory data has not had so much of an impact on this market,” Hasegawa said. “Generally speaking, crude oil has been moving around $75 for a long time, so data showing an inventory increase cannot push prices out of this range.”
Gasoline stocks rose by 2.4 million barrels, the API said, against analysts’ forecast for a 300,000 barrel decline. Distillates including heating oil and diesel rose by 2.5 million barrels, versus expectations of a 200,000 barrel gain.
Government statistics on inventories and demand will follow from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday at 1430 GMT.
In equity markets, Asia ex-Japan stocks rose 0.7 percent to a near two-year high, though trading volumes were thinned out by holidays, while U.S. stock futures climbed 0.5 percent.
Gold was in sight of $1,300 an ounce, having hit a record high overnight after the Fed said it was ready if needed to add more stimulus and that inflation was running below where it would like it to be.
Weather forecasters were closely monitoring a tropical wave in the southeastern Caribbean that is producing showers and thunderstorms over much of the Windward Islands as it moves westward. In a couple of days, it is expected to become a tropical depression — one step below tropical storm strength.
Source: Reuters
He has, therefore, urged the Energy Commission to allocate more money from the Energy Fund towards applied renewable energy research saying this has become necessary particularly now that the Renewable Energy Bill is about to be considered by Parliament for enactment into law.
Vice President Mahama said this when he launched a book entitled: “Energy – My Vision” in Accra on Monday night.
The contents of the book, compiled by the Energy Centre of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), were presentations representing energy policy options of four political party flagbearers in the 2008 election at a forum dubbed “Flagbearers on Energy” organized by the Centre in Kumasi.
The flagbearers were Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress, who was represented by his running mate at the time, Mr Mahama, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Convention People’s Party and Dr Edward Nasigri Mahama of the People’s National Convention.
The Vice President said government’s vision was to ensure that “our universities and polytechnics build the necessary capacity for the technical capability and management of our indigenous energy resources and conversion systems, so that we can grow to become a model of socio-economic and technological prosperity for Africa”.
He expressed the belief that the passage of the local content bill into law would give the needed impetus to such a desire.
“Indeed, KNUST’s Energy Centre and, in particular, the petroleum and petrochemical engineering programmes, will have critical roles to play in ensuring that Ghanaian engineers assume the commanding heights of the up-and-coming petroleum industry.”
Vice President Mahama commended the Fellows and Associates of the Energy Centre, KNUST, for organizing the forum and urged them to institutionalize it to become one of the major landmarks of Ghana’s political discourse to consolidate our democratic credentials.
With the exception of Nana Akufo Addo, the two other flagbearers of the 2008 election, Dr Nduom and Dr Mahama, attended the launch and commended The Energy Centre, KNUST, for the compilation of the book.
Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, Minister of Energy, said the government’s vision for the energy sector, as presented at the flagbearers forum in Kumasi, was on course.
Dr Oteng-Adjei, whose speech was read for him by Mr Kwaku Awotwi, Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority, gave the assurance of enough power production, which would ultimately reduce the end-user price.
Prof Abeeku Brew-Hammond, Director of the Energy Centre, KNUST, said he would hold consultations with authorities of KNUST to institutionalize the forum.
He thanked the flagbearers for their contribution and donors for their assistance.
GNA
TMA/DK
21 Sept. 10
Economics GSE Award
GSE adjudged Most Innovative African Stock Exchange for 2010
This was at the Africa investor (Ai) Index Series Awards held at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) last Friday, according to a statement issued by the GSE in Accra on Monday.
The statement said: “The Africa investor Index Series Awards are the only international pan-African awards that recognize and reward Africa’s institutional investors, stock exchanges, best-performing listed companies, stockbrokers and capital market regulators.”
It said the awards assessed performance between April 2009 and April 2010.
It quoted Mr Hubert Danso, Vice President and Managing Director of Ai, as saying: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to profile African capital market success stories through the Africa investor Index Series Awards. The quality and quantity of entries received this year is testament to Africa’s increasing appeal to the global investment community.”
It said the awards ceremony coincided with the annual Africa investor (Ai) Index Series Awards Summit held in association with NYSE Euronext in New York.
It said the summit brought together international investors, African Chief Executive Officers, pension funds and capital market professionals to explore investment partnerships in African listed equities.
The statement said the GSE topped the “Most Innovative Stock Exchange” category out of a group of seven African Stock Exchanges nominated.
GNA