2 weeks Ago By Tom Ozimek
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) on Monday reaffirmed its earlier plan to gradually ease production cuts beginning in April 2025, despite pressure from President Donald Trump for bolder action that would lower oil prices. The move comes amid a history of strained relations between OPEC+ and Trump, who previously pushed the group to increase production to counter the impact of U.S.
sanctions on Iran. “I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil. You got to bring it down, which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election,” Trump said on Jan.
22 during the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland. “If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately. Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue.
” “Attempts at artificial, unfair interference in the mechanisms of the global oil market are strongly unacceptable,” he said. Monday’s OPEC+ ministerial meeting took place amid a short-lived jump in oil prices following Trump’s announcement of tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China—three of the United States’ largest trading partners—which fueled fears of potential supply disruptions. However, crude prices erased their early gains after Trump delayed imposing tariffs on Mexico for a month.
U.S. oil was down around 1.
75 percent at $72.46 per barrel at around 1:15 p.m.
on Feb. 3, well below the recent peak of $83 per barrel reached on Jan. 15.
The ministerial meeting also saw OPEC+ replacing the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) as one of its secondary sources used for monitoring its production and adherence to supply agreements, a move that raises questions about the group’s transparency and its relationship with the U.
S. government. “After thorough analysis from the OPEC Secretariat, the Committee replaced Rystad Energy and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) with Kpler, OilX, and ESAI, as part of the secondary sources used to assess the crude oil production and conformity,” OPEC+ said in a statement.
The reason for OPEC’s move to drop EIA as a secondary source is unclear. EIA did not respond to a request for comment on the decision by publication time. The next OPEC+ ministerial meeting is scheduled for April 5, 2025.
At this meeting, ministers will review market conditions and assess compliance before finalizing the planned production increase, which is set to begin in April..
