Oil prices skyrocketed by more than 20 percent on Thursday. This was caused by a tweet from US President Donald Trump, who announced a possible agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
According to Trump, the two countries would have agreed to reduce their production by about 10 million barrels “and perhaps substantially more”. However, the Kremlin denies that there has been any talk with the Saudi Crown Prince.
The US President circulated the information after speaking to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who Trump said would have consulted with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A few minutes later, a barrel of oil from the American type WTI was already worth 22 percent more.
A barrel of North Sea oil from Brent shot up 40 percent, before falling back to a profit of just under 20 percent. However, Russia denies that a conversation between Putin and Mohammed bin Salman has recently taken place. “There was no conversation,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov. According to him, no conversation is planned either. The existence of an agreement is not explicitly denied.
Oil prices have fallen free fall in the past month due to a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. The sharply reduced demand as a result of the corona pandemic also pushed prices down even further.
Saudi Arabia called for an urgent meeting between OPEC and other countries, including Russia, on Thursday. The intention is to reach an agreement on stabilization of the market, Riyad reports via the Saudi news agency SPA.
