Oil prices slide as Trump urges OPEC not to cut supply
New York: Oil prices have extended losses as US President Donald Trump once again tried to dampen OPEC’s efforts to tackle falling oil prices amid market expectations on further output cut.
“Hopefully OPEC will be keeping oil flows as is, not restricted. The World does not want to see, or need, higher oil prices!” Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery decreased $0.36 to settle at $52.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery decreased $0.52 to close at $61.56 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The remarks came just a day prior to OPEC’s meeting in Vienna, piling pressure on the Saudi-led cartel, Russia and other non-member nations over potential global oil policy-making.
Moscow has shown willingness to cooperate with OPEC to cut oil production. Russia’s oil giant Lukoil said it’s ready to cut production if the upcoming meeting results in a deal to prop up prices, the company’s CEO Vagit Alekperov told reporters, according to TASS news agency.
Yet he said such a reduction could be done “only gradually,” due to the adverse weather conditions in Western Siberia. “The reduction should be smooth, just like last year,” Alekperov was quoted as saying.