Global benchmark crude futures climbed Tuesday, holding ground at four-year highs on expectations for tighter international supplies of oil.
U.S. crude prices, however, eased back from the session’s best levels as President Donald Trump at the United Nations assembly reiterated his recent calls on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to lower oil prices and said the U.S. would take action if it didn’t.
Trump’s U.N. address partly explains the move in WTI, said Alfonso Esparza, senior market analyst at Oanda, pointing out this line in the president’s speech: “The United States stands ready to export our abundant, affordable supply of oil, clean coal and natural gas.”
“Trump has now escalated the rhetoric and if OPEC and other major producers will not increase supply, the U.S. is ready to step up,” said Esparza. “Trump gave no details, but he has suggested in the past that he would be willing to tap into the [Strategic Petroleum Reserve] to keep oil prices low.”
via MarketWatch
