"Gasoline stocks are tight and may tighten further in June unless refinery capacity rises more sharply than current forecasts suggest."
The International Energy Agency said Friday in its latest monthly oil market report, despite an expected increase in refinery throughput. After a sustained six-month fall in world oil stocks during the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of 2007, crude stocks are also set to decline sharply by the summer unless OPEC increases production, the Paris-based IEA said in its latest monthly oil market report.
"The chance of 1997 happening again is virtually non-existent."
A participant at a closed-door Merrill Lynch forum quoted the former US Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan as saying on Friday. Greenspan thinks Asia is unlikely to be hit by another financial crisis similar to the one in 1997 as the region now has ample foreign exchange reserves. According to a participant, who did not want to be named, Greenspan drew his views from the fact that Asian central banks currently have adequate reserves compared to a decade ago when several economies were running current account deficits.
Updated: May 11, 2007
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