London — US President Donald Trump reiterated his calls for lower global oil prices Monday, urging OPEC to “relax” over efforts to curb production to rebalance the global oil market.
“Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy.” Trump said on Twitter. “World cannot take a price hike – fragile!”
Front-month Brent crude futures were trading at a three-month high of around $67.25/b earlier Monday, but fell back after the tweet to trade $0.92/b below Friday’s settle at $66.20/b.
In November, Trump thanked Saudi Arabia for lower oil prices in a tweet when Brent was trading around $63.90/b, adding that he wanted prices to go lower.
Saudi Arabia last week called for OPEC members and the group’s key producer allies to stick to pledges to cut output during the first half of 2019.
Earlier Monday, Goldman Sachs said the near-term outlook for oil is “modestly bullish” following recent data suggesting that the oil market will likely continue to tighten in the coming weeks.
The oil market could “tighten significantly” in March and April when with Brent oil could “easily trade in a $70-$75/b range,” the bank said.
— Robert Perkins, [email protected]
— Edited by James Leech, [email protected]
Source: S&P Global Platts
