In a post on Twitter, the US President wrote: “Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower!” Donald Trump followed this tweet with another shortly after which simply read: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” The latest comments came 24 hours after oil prices plunged six percent as fears about slowing global demand and a surge in U.S. production outweighed expected supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
US crude futures tumbled five percent to $54.33 per barrel, while Brent crude futures fell 4.9 percent to $63.51 per barrel.
Since a four-week peak in early October, US crude prices have fallen 30 percent, while Brent crude prices have dropped by more than a quarter (26 percent) in the same period.
Oil prices bounced back on Wednesday to $63 per barrel, clawing back some of the previous day losses, lifted by a report of an unexpected decline in US crude inventories.
Brent crude was up 92 cents to $63.45 per barrel and began to trade as high as $63.67. US crude oil rose 98 cents to $54.41 per barrel.
But despite the gains, Brent has still fallen more than 25 percent since reaching a four-year high of $86.74 on October 3, reflecting concern about forecasts of slowing demand next year and record supply from Saudi Arabia, Russia and the US.
OPEC, as well as Russia and other non-OPEC producers, is already considering cutting supply by up to one million and 1,4 million barrels per day at a meeting on December 6.
But analysts have said may find taking action to support prices harder, especially due to pressure from the US to keep them low and Mr Trump standing by the Saudi Crown Prince in the wake of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Oliver Jakob, an analyst at Petromatrix, said: “It is more difficult to expect a supply cut when you have the U.S. president giving full support to Saudi Arabia and asking Saudi to maintain low prices.”
This is a breaking story. More to follow.