OPEC and Russia shrug off Trump’s tweet tirade on oil prices

Iraq
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi left, listens to Oil Minister
Jabar Ali al-Luaibi, right, during the Iraq Energy Forum in
Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 28, 2018. Iraq says OPEC will
decide by the end of this year whether to extend production cuts
and by how long.
AP/Karim
Kadim

• OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and its biggest ally outside the
  group, Russia, have pushed back against complaints by US
  President Donald Trump that oil prices are too high,
  Reuters reported.
• Oil reached $80 per barrel this month causing Trump to tweet
  on Thursday: “We protect the countries of the Middle East, they
  would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue
  to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The
  OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!”
• A meeting of energy misters from OPEC and non-OPEC countries
  in Algiers on Sunday made a formal recommendation that prices
  would not be cut, with the Saudi Arabian energy minister Khalid
  al-Falih saying, “I do not influence prices.”
• Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday that
  Trump’s tweet “was the biggest insult to Washington’s allies in
  the Middle East.”

OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and its biggest oil producer ally
outside the group, Russia, have pushed back against attempts by
US President Donald Trump to reduce the price of oil, announcing
on Sunday that there would be no additional price decrease in the
near term,
Reuters reported.

The Saudi Arabian energy minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters
at a gathering of energy ministers both from OPEC and non-OPEC
countries in Algiers on Sunday, “I do not influence prices.” The
meeting finished with a formal recommendation that prices would
not be reduced.  

The announcement followed comments from President Trump on
Twitter that the worlds biggest oil produces should cut their
prices, as the price of benchmark Brent oil hit $80 a barrel.

“We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be
safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for
higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly
must get prices down now!” Trump said in a Tweet on Thursday,
ahead of the meeting in Algiers.

The rally in prices is believed to be mainly a result of reduced
oil output after fresh sanctions placed on OPEC producer Iran by
the US. American sanctions on Venezuela and the crisis in the
country has also hit production.

Falih said Saudi Arabia has spare capacity to boost output but
that this action was not necessary for now, and might not be
needed next year because OPEC projects there will be a marked
rise in oil production from non-OPEC countries which could
outpace global demand.

The minister said that Saudi Arabia could raise output by 1.5
million barrels a day if necessary.

“Given the numbers we saw today, that [an output increase in
2019] is highly unlikely unless we have surprises on the supply
and demand,” Falih said,
Reuters reported. “The markets are adequately supplied. I
don’t know of any refiner in the world who is looking for oil and
is not able to get it.”

The higher oil prices could cause problems for Trump in the lead
up to the midterm congressional elections in November. But the
third largest OPEC producer, Iran, has said Trump is to blame for
the oil price rise through his sanctions on the country, and Iran
has accused Saudi-Arabia of deferring to US pressure.

Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday that Trump’s
tweet “was the biggest insult to Washington’s allies in the
Middle East”.

Iran’s OPEC Representative Hossein Kazempour
told CNBC in Algiers on Sunday that the oil prices would be
cheaper if Trump would stop tweeting and drawing attention to
them. He added that US pressure on OPEC and Iran was “something
which cannot be accepted.”

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