New York — Oil futures were lower Monday in early morning trade in Asia afterPresident Donald Trump spent part of the weekend urging OPEC members toincrease oil production to offset losses from Iran.
ICE September Brent was 75 cents lower at $78.48/b at 0017 GMT. NYMEXAugust crude was 66 cents lower at $73.49/b. NYMEX August ULSD was 1.91 centslower at $2.1906/gal. NYMEX August RBOB was 1.51 cents lower at $2.1361/gal.
With prompt ICE Brent surging back toward $80/b Friday, Trump tweetedearly Saturday that Saudi Arabia's King Salman had agreed to boost oilproduction by 2 million b/d to moderate high oil prices, which Trump blamed on"turmoil & [dysfunction] in Iran and Venezuela."
However, the White House issued a statement later Saturday clarifyingthat while Trump and King Salman spoke Friday, Saudi Arabia had agreed toincrease oil production "if and when necessary."
King Salman confirmed that Saudi Arabia holds a spare capacity of 2million b/d, according to the White House statement.
In an interview Sunday, with Fox News, Trump accused OPEC of"manipulating" the oil market, and would need to "put out another 2 millionbarrels" because of losses from Iran.
It wasn't the first time that Trump has used Twitter to pressure OPECproducers. On April 20, he blasted OPEC for keeping oil prices "artificiallyhigh."
Trump's arm-twisting was seen as one factor influencing Saudi Arabia'smove to lobby other members of the OPEC/non-OPEC coalition participating in acoordinated output cut to relax supply restrictions.
The OPEC/non-OPEC coalition met in Vienna where it agreed June 23 toincrease output by 1 million b/d, yet oil prices still rose last week.
ICE August Brent closed Friday at $79.44/b, a week-on-week gain of$3.89/b, with traders focused on problems in Libya and Venezuela, in additionto sanctions being reimposed on Iran.
S&P Global Platts Analytics expects a loss of more than 1 million b/d byNovember if the US manages to pressure Iranian oil buyers to eliminate theirimports because of sanctions reimposed on Iran.
