June 30 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump revealed Saturday he asked Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to increase his country’s oil production “maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels.”
Trump said on Twitter that King Salman agreed to the request, but a state-run press agency in Saudi Arabia didn’t confirm the two leaders reached any agreement.
The move would compensate for “turmoil [and] disfunction” in Venezuela and Iran, both members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Trump said in a tweet Saturday morning.
In the tweet, Trump appeared to indicate his belief that current oil prices are too high. U.S. prices for retail gasoline at the moment have reached levels that haven’t been matched in the past four years. U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Thursday that lower amounts of Iranian oil were straining the market.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency confirmed a call took place Saturday between Trump and King Salman, but it didn’t indicate whether Saudi Arabia’s leader agreed to any requests from the president.
“The two leaders stressed the need to make efforts to maintain the stability of oil markets, the growth of the global economy, and the efforts of producing countries to compensate for any potential shortage of supplies,” the press agency said.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.