Yahoo Finance Oil Falls After Trump Says Prices Are Too High
Investing.com - Oil prices slumped on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ and Russia for contributing to the rise in oil prices.
Crude oil futures fell 0.79% to $67.75 a barrel by 10:12 AM ET (14:12 GMT).
Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., was down 0.89 to $73.12 a barrel.
The price of oil was near a three and a half years earlier in the day, bolstered by a decline in U.S. supply and continued support of production cuts by OPEC and Russia. Both Brent and WTI hit their highest levels since November, 2014 on Thursday, at $74.75 and $69.56 per barrel respectively.
Trump said OPEC production cuts had increased oil prices and it would not be tolerated.
OPEC has been cutting crude output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to prop up oil prices. The pact began in January 2017 and is set to expire at the end of 2018. While the groups efforts to end a global supply glut have been successful, Saudi Arabia is pushing for the cuts to extend into 2019.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia officials would like the price of oil to continue rising to $80 or even $100, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Members of OPEC are expected to meet in Vienna in June to decide their next steps.
In other energy trading, gasoline futures decreased 0.36% at $2.0660 a gallon, while heating oil fell 0.82% to $2.0921a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 1.80% to $2.708 per million British thermal units.
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