GLOBAL MARKETS: Fear spreads as stocks tumble, safety sought
SINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Asian stocks dropped 3 to 4 percent on Friday after panic triggered the worst sell-off on Wall Street since the global financial crisis, sending investors slashing positions and scrambling for cash and government bonds.
"What you're seeing is a shakeout of all the money that was put to work in the hope that 2011 turns out like last year, where you saw a nice bounce around the same time," said a Hong Kong-based multi-strategy hedge fund manager.
OIL: U.S. crude drops to lowest since Feb on recession fears
SINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. crude extended losses on Friday, heading for its biggest weekly drop in three months, after fears of an economic slowdown drove investors to the exits a day earlier in a commodities sell-off that erased oil's gains in 2011.
U.S. crude plunged almost 6 percent on Thursday to $86.63 a barrel, the biggest drop since May 5. It was down 78 cents at $85.85 by 0125 GMT, the lowest price since Feb. 18. Brent fell 16 cents to $107.09, extending Thurday's drop of almost $6.
Colombia studies new oil line project to Pacific-govt
BOGOTA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Colombia is studying the feasibility of a new oil pipeline crossing the Andes mountains from the oil-rich Llanos Basin to the Pacific coast to help tap Asian markets, the country's energy minister said on Thursday.
Latin America's No. 4 oil producer is enjoying a boom in investment into its mining and oil sectors, which has pushed up output of crude oil and coal to historic highs while the country struggles to boost infrastructure.
Fire briefly affects Venezuela oil dock
CARACAS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A fire broke out at a dock serving Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA on Thursday but the company said shipments were not affected and no workers were injured.
PDVSA said in a statement the fire occurred while loading 34,000 tonnes of sulfur, a petroleum byproduct, from its Petroanzoategui project onto a ship destined for Morocco.
Shell completes maintenance at oil sands project
CALGARY, Alberta, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Thursday it had completed unplanned maintenance at its oil sands mining site in northern Alberta and operations had returned to normal.
Production at the mine had been marginally reduced since mid-July because of problem with an unspecified unit,
Shell has a 60 percent stake in the venture while Marathon Oil Corp and Chevron Corp each hold 20 percent.
North Sea oil cargoes further delayed
LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Supplies of North Sea crude oil have been delayed by oilfield problems, trading sources said on Thursday, further deferring shipments in a region that sets the global Brent benchmark. Another cargo of Forties crude has been delayed in August, the sources said, reflecting the impact of production glitches at Nexen's Buzzard field. Forties supplies have been disrupted since May due to the Buzzard problems.
Oil demand outlook dims as economies sputter
LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A sharp slowdown in economic growth, particularly in the United States, is hitting oil consumers and companies, forcing analysts to slash estimates for global oil demand.
In a report to be published in the next few days, Barclays Capital has cut its estimates of world oil demand growth for this year and 2012 to reflect the dramatic economic slowdown.
NATURAL GAS: Natural gas ends down near 4 pct on EIA data, weather
NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended sharply lower on Thursday, with milder Northeast and Midwest weather forecasts and a bearish weekly inventory report driving the front-month contract to its lowest level since mid-March.
"We're still seeing some pretty big (storage) builds even with record heat," a Massachusetts-based trader said.
EURO COAL: Coal ignores turmoil on other markets
LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Prompt physical coal prices dipped by around 10 cents on Thursday with few fresh trades reported. Coal's illiquidity has made it a relatively unattractive market for speculative investors and so coal was little affected by the flood of money out of stocks and into safe-haven assets like bonds.
"Everything seems to be collapsing apart from bonds, oil fell $3 but coal has ignored it all," one European trader said.
COMMODITIES: Investor exodus batters oil, grains, metals
NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Commodities tumbled on Thursday, trampled by a global stampede away from riskier assets as investors panicked over mounting signs of a sluggish U.S. economy,
"A range of commodities is under selling pressure as a general 'risk-off' flow continues from investors suddenly far less complacent regarding the strength of the global economy," said Tim Evans, analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York.
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