Oil prices have eased after US President Donald Trump urged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to stabilise prices.
International Brent futures declined 0.1% and were at $64.70 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped by 0.4% to $55.26 a barrel, Reuters reported.
According to analysts, the US was keen to counter a recent increase in prices driven by reduced output by major exporters.
Expressing concern about oil prices, Trump tweeted: “Oil prices getting too high. Opec, please relax and take it easy. World cannot take a price hike – fragile!”
Frame Funds Sydney portfolio manager Hue Frame said: “The problem is we are having these sporadic tweets impacting global commodity markets. It does make it increasingly difficult to have a consistent fundamental read on the data.”
Over the last two weeks, oil markets rallied on optimism about a trade agreement between the US and China and were also the most vulnerable to a sell-off, analysts said.
Reuters commodity technical analyst Wang Tao said that US crude may test support at $54.39 a barrel.
Late last year, OPEC and some non-affiliated producers such as Russia agreed to reduce production by 1.2 million barrels per day (Mbpd) to prevent supply glut.
The deepest cuts were made by leading member Saudi Arabia.
Analysts further added that US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela markets have contributed to the recent gains while Trump is attempting to ease prices lower.
