Apr 20, 2018

Trump bursts into OPEC fray

Ben Geman

President Trump lambasted OPEC via Twitter Friday morning for making oil prices "artificially Very High" — a tweet which hit during an OPEC meeting today and was likely a reaction to oil prices trading at their highest level in three years.

Why it matters: Trump's tweet, while vague, appears to show the president directly attacking OPEC's work with Russia to limit production as the cartel seeks to tame the global crude oil glut. Trump's comments arrive as oil prices are trading at their highest levels in three years and U.S. gasoline prices, while still modest, have been creeping upwards too.line prices, while still modest, have been creeping upwards too.

Reactions from OPEC, via reporters covering the meeting (lightly edited):

  • Energy Intelligence Group's Amena Bakr: "UAE oil min says in response to Trump quote: OPEC is just doing its job of rebalancing the market."
  • Bloomberg News' Javier Blas: "'There is not such a thing as artificial prices', says SaudiArabia energy minister Khalid Al-Falih in response to Trump's tweet."
  • Platts Oil's Herman Wang: "Oil inventories are still above where they were before the downturn, Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih says. 'The inventory drawdown needs to continue' but 'we are not decided yet on precisely what is the target'."

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