In front of the bosses gathered in Davos, the President of the United States put pressure on Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower the price of oil. A few minutes after his intervention, the price of a barrel suddenly fell.
And suddenly, he appeared on the giant screen. In front of an audience of bosses, gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland, American President Donald Trump asked this Thursday Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to “lower the cost of oil “.
“I am frankly surprised that they did not do it before the election. Not doing so was not really a proof of love,” he insisted. A few minutes after his intervention, the prices of black gold instantly reacted downward.
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Up slightly before this declaration, around 5:45 p.m. in Paris, the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in March, lost 0.87% to reach $78.31. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, for delivery the same month, fell 1.07% to $74.63.
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“Prudent” operators since his inauguration
To boost prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) has been organizing a supply shortage strategy since the end of 2022. The cartel currently has untapped production capacity of nearly six million barrels per day.
These are the barrels that the American president would like to see return to the market in order to drastically reduce energy prices. Donald Trump hopes to fight inflation and increase the purchasing power of Americans.
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For several days, the uncertainty linked to the announcements of the 47th President of the United States has continued to weigh on the oil markets, and operators have “become cautious again in recent days”, underlines Ole Hansen, analyst at Saxobank.
While the United States is already the world's leading crude producer, the American president intends to increase oil and gas production to “fill strategic reserves” and “export American energy around the world”, a- he clarified. He notably lifted restrictions on oil projects in Alaska while revoking the Biden administration's green energy goals.
During his statement in Davos, Donald Trump indicated that if the price of oil “were lower”, the war in Ukraine “would be over immediately. »
“I demand that interest rates drop immediately”
In addition to this pressure on the price of oil, it has also put pressure on interest rates. “They must go down immediately.” Pressure put on a few days before the Fed meets on Tuesday to discuss it and which plans – already – to leave rates unchanged.
“With oil prices set to fall, I demand that interest rates fall immediately and, similarly, they should fall all over the world. Interest rates should follow us everywhere,” insisted Donald Trump.
