On Saturday, Trump said that he spoke to the Saudi king about the need to increase Saudi Arabia's oil production "maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels" due to unstable situation in Iran and Venezuela, stressing that the Saudi leader agreed with the proposal. Later on Saturday, the Saudi SPA news agency also reported about the conversation between Trump and Salman but has not mentioned the agreement announced by Trump. The agency reported that the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining stability of the oil market and the global economic growth.
Just spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil & disfunction in Iran and Venezuela, I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference…Prices to high! He has agreed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2018
According to The Wall Street Journal, a high-ranking Saudi official said that the kingdom made no concrete promises to Trump but assured him of its ability to satisfy the market’s demands.
"Saudi Arabia does not really like going beyond 11 million barrels a day and has no intention of expanding its current production capacity. It is expensive," an unnamed Saudi official told The Wall Street Journal.
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Last week, OPEC countries and other major oil producers that participate in the 2016 Vienna cut deal agreed during a meeting in the Austrian capital to increase production to 1 million barrels per day, that is the volume of the countries' overcompliance with the agreement.
