President Donald Trump said on Monday that OPEC had not pressed him to consider asking US producers to reduce their output as a way to support oil prices depressed by an economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The president said that OPEC had not approached him with such a suggestion but said that US oil production had already fallen. "I think it's happening automatically but nobody's asked me that question yet so we'll see what happens," the president told a press briefing.
Major oil producers including Saudi Arabia and Russia are likely to agree to cut production at a Thursday meeting but only if the United States joins the effort, three OPEC+ sources told Reuters.
OPEC+ is working on a deal to cut oil production by about 10 percent of world supply, or 10 million barrels per day (bpd), in what member states expect to be an unprecedented global effort.
A previous production-cut deal ended last month after Russia and Saudi Arabia were unable to come to an agreement to curb output further as the coronavirus pandemic destroyed demand.
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Last Update: Sunday, 15 November 2020 KSA 08:04 - GMT 05:04