Trump takes on OPEC

Amidst trade dispute with China, US
President Donald Trump has taken on the Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), accusing the cartel of fostering high
prices.

 

OPEC was taking undue advantage of oil
consuming nations, Trump said at the United Nations General Assembly in
New York on Tuesday.

 

He lambasted OPEC and its allies for keeping oil price high.

 

He said that high oil prices negatively affect the economies of the world.

 

He urged oil consuming nations not to rely on OPEC, stressing the importance of energy independence.

 

 “OPEC and OPEC nations are as usual, ripping off the rest of the world, and I don’t like it, nobody should like it.

 

We defend many of these nations for nothing and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices.

 

“It ‘s  not good.”

 

He called on other nations not to rely on OPEC, lamenting the dependence Germany has on Russia.

 

The U.S. President spoke against the
backdrop of rising oil price, which rose Monday to a four year-high at
$81 per barrel and to $82 per barrel yesterday.

 

Oil prices jumped more than two per cent
to a four-year high on Monday after Saudi Arabia and Russia ruled out
any immediate increase in production. The refusal of OPEC to raise
production negates the call by Trump for action
to raise global supply.

 

Benchmark crude, Brent hit its highest since November 2014 at $80.94 
per barrel, up $2.14  or 2.7 per cent, before easing to around $80.75 dollars. U.S. light was $1.25 higher at $72.03.

 

“This is the oil market’s response to the
OPEC and allies’ refusal to step up its oil production,” said Carsten
Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

 

OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and its biggest
oil-producer ally, Russia, on Sunday rebuffed a demand from Trump for
moves to cool the market.