Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump tweeted that King Salman of Saudi Arabia agreed to increase oil production by 2 million barrels per day (bpd), “because of the turmoil & dysfunction in Iran and Venezuela”, according to Trump’s tweet. Trump continued, “prices too high! He has agreed!”, though statements from Saudi media have made no mention of an agreement to raise Saudi oil production.
White House officials have worked to backtrack the president’s statement, stating that Saudi Arabia currently outputs 10 million bpd, and maintains slack in their production equivalent to 2 million bpd that they can tap, “if and when necessary to ensure market balance”.
WTI oil prices dipped into 71.80 at the market’s open this week, but has since recovered above 72.50, though current prices are still below Friday’s closing price of 73.54.
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