US President Donald Trump has used social media, specifically his Twitter account, to once more comment on global oil production levels, according to the AFP.
Trump has previously used the platform to berate the production scale back by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that has been in place since early 2017. On Saturday, June 30th, the US President tweeted that he had spoken with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud regarding a possible spike in production by the kingdom of up to 2mn barrels per day (bpd), stating: “Just spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil & dysfunction in Iran and Venezuela, I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference…Prices to high! He has agreed!”
Just last week, Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and the largest producer in OPEC had agreed, alongside the world’s leading producer Russia, to raise global production by around 1mn bpd which would be instigated by a wide cartel of OPEC and non-OPEC nations.
Later, a more official release from the White House rowed back on this statement, saying,” “the two leaders reaffirmed their dedication to a healthy and stable global energy market for the benefit of all nations.”
The Wall Street Journal, citing a senior Saudi oil official, claimed that while the kingdom does have significant extra production capacity, Trump’s request was “just simply not doable”.
