Saudi Arabia is not backing down in its crude oil war with Russia.
Saudi officials reportedly balked at U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to broker a truce with Russia and continue to push the crude oil supply to record levels. Trump said he’d spoken to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an attempt to broker a truce between the world’s two largest oil exporters.
However, Saudi Arabia started April by boosting crude oil supply to more than 12 million barrels a day, the largest amount ever recorded. Saudi Arabia continues to insist that it will only back away from a decision to flood the global market if all the world’s leading oil producers, including the U.S., agree to cut oil output.
World oil demand, normally around 100 million barrels a day, is likely to be down by 30 million barrels a day in April and has yet to bottom out as lockdowns due to the coronavirus continue.
Russian officials have said that it makes no sense for producers to boost oil output in the current environment.
U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said that he and his Russian counterpart talk regularly and have agreed to "continue dialog among major energy producers and consumers, including through the G20," the Department of Energy said in a written statement.
