Donald Trump threated some Middle Eastern oil producers to take revenge on them because of crude oil prices. This is not the first time the American president is criticizing the Middle East in Twitter for being reluctant to contribute to lower oil prices.
On September 20th, he posted a new tweet addressed to the oil producers from the Persian Gulf. In this tweet, he urges the OPEC to cut their export oil prices as soon as possible:
"We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!"
Strangely enough, Donald Trump's tweet didn't surprise the market. Oil prices have been relatively high for quite a while, even despite minor ups and downs that are seen on any market on a regular basis. On September 21st, Brent oil traded within the range between $78,5/b and $80,02/b. At the same time, WTI oil traded around $70,5/b.
By the way, Donald Trump posted something similar to that back in June 2018. In his tweet, he criticized the OPEC for starting to manipulate oil prices again, which a bad thing to do. Back then, Brent and WTI oil cost 75 and 66 dollars per barrel respectively. As you can see, oil prices have gained a bit since then, which is something the U.S. president doesn't like at all.
At the same time, we can understand the OPEC's motivations. The bigger the prices, the more money they earn in foreign currency. On the other hand, high oil prices are something that oil importers would not like to see. At the same time, higher oil prices lead to costlier diesel and gasoline, which contributes to stronger inflation.
As for market predictions, international experts assume that Brent oil is going to stay within the 75-80 range until the end of 2018, unless a major trade war or some tensions in the Middle East break out.
