It didn’t take long for U.S. President Donald Trump to comment on oil prices, just ten days after he expressed hope that OPEC wouldn’t cut oil production.
On Wednesday morning, President Trump thanked Saudi Arabia for keeping oil prices low and called for even lower prices, likening the lower price of oil to a tax cut.
“Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower!” President Trump tweeted.
At the start of last week, in his previous tweet aimed at OPEC, President Trump said oil prices should be lower—“Hopefully, Saudi Arabia and OPEC will not be cutting oil production. Oil prices should be much lower based on supply!”
The previous tweet came hours after Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said at the end of an OPEC panel meeting that the group needed “to do whatever it takes to balance the market,” and that OPEC analysis shows that a cut of 1 million bpd may be needed to restore market balance amid fears that oversupply has started to build again.
OPEC will discuss a possible U-turn in the oil production policy at its meeting in early December, and according to Ahmed al-Kaabi, Governor for OPEC of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the cartel will very likely agree to cut oil production, although the size of the cuts has yet to be decided.
Despite various reports out of OPEC that a cut is in the works, oil prices tanked early on Tuesday on fears of oversupply, slower demand, and a sell-off on the equity markets.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise crude oil inventory draw later on Tuesday, halting the oil price drop.
Both WTI Crude and Brent Crude prices were up around 2 percent at 09:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday morning, after President Trump’s thank-you-Saudis tweet, which came a day after he refused to blame Saudi Arabia for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, saying that “The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
