A Saudi Arabia signal to ease limits on oil production led to oil prices falling Friday after a three-week rally, and OPEC cited an angry tweet by President Donald Trump as a trigger, according to The Washington Post.
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy Khalid al-Falih tweeted: "I reiterated #Saudi's commitment, in collaboration with other producers, to guarantee availability of sufficient oil supply to compensate for potential loss & to meet rising demand."
After rising above $70, a four-year high, crude oil prices dropped 4 percent Friday to $67.88 per barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange after Saudi Arabia and Russia's near agreement through OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) to open up oil supply the second half of the year, according to the report.
Trump's above tweet sparked the policy change, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo told a Russian economic forum in St. Petersburg, per the Post.
"We pride ourselves as friends of the United States," Barkindo reportedly told a panel with Saudi and Russian energy ministers.
The next OPEC meeting is June 22.
"Secretary General Barkindo's tweet gives President Trump bragging rights for pushing OPEC to open the taps," Robert McNally, former National Security Council adviser to President George W. Bush, told the Post. "The Democrats demanded Trump weigh in with OPEC to reverse crude price increases. He did."
Since November 2016, Russia and OPEC have kept oil production below capacity, which has more than doubled crude oil prices to effectively "rebalance the market," international affairs expert Gregory Gause, a Texas A&M University professor, told the Post.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.