Oil prices rise as US president Donald Trump asks Opec to push them down
Oil prices rose this afternoon after US President Donald Trump called on Opec to increase exports, saying prices were getting too high.
International standard Brent crude was trading down to $66.55 at around 1.20pm this afternoon.
Read more: Oil prices give back gains after hitting 2019 highs
But after a Trump tweet ten minutes later, the price rallied to around $67.44, around 0.6 per cent down on the day.
“Very important that Opec increase the flow of oil. World markets are fragile, price of oil getting too high. Thank you!” the president said.
Prices have been ticking up since the beginning of the year when Opec and its allies cut output by 1.2m barrels per day.
The price of Brent had originally crashed by around 40 per cent between October and December, as a glut of US shale flooded the market.
It is not the first time Trump has tweeted an appeal directly to the oil producing cartel. In September, just before the drop, the president again called on Opec to help push down prices.
Read more: Mueller just gave Democrats the key to taking down Trump
“We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The Opec monopoly must get prices down now!” he said.
US standard West Texas Intermediate fell 0.6 per cent today.