Frightened by the fall at the end of 2018, the Saudis and Russians have sharply reduced their production. They managed to bring prices back up… and annoy the US president.
It is a new gymnastics to which the Gulf emirs, London traders or the bosses of the majors are subjected, a new obligatory passage for the oil planet: the tweets of Donald Trump have become gusts that are abusing an already very volatile market. On Thursday 28 March, the US president took up his favorite hobbyhorse: blaming OPEC for the rise in oil prices. “It is very important that OPEC increases oil production. The world market is fragile, the price of oil is too high. Thank you!”
Over 100 million barrels per day
What is driving up oil prices is seemingly very simple. Despite global concerns about climate change, despite trade tensions between the United States and China, despite technological developments, oil demand continues to grow: the planet has never used so much oil, with more than 100 million barrels consumed per day.
