The oil war: Trump is optimistic about overcoming the crisis, and Saudi Arabia denies Russian accusations

US President Donald Trump said that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted something to happen to stabilize the global oil market after his recent collapse, while Riyadh denied the Russian accusation of refusing to extend the OPEC Plus agreement and its withdrawal from it.

Trump said in a meeting with the heads of American oil companies, that oil prices will return to rise quickly and his country will overcome this deadlock.

He continued, "We believe that prices will return to rise quickly, and we are ready, and we look very seriously to provide an infrastructure stimulus package to support the American economy."

These statements come at a time when a source told Reuters that US Energy Secretary Dan Bruelet told oil industry executives during a call on Friday that the White House was not negotiating with Saudi Arabia or Russia about an agreement to reduce oil production, and he wanted the parties to reach an agreement between them.

Bruilett spoke to independent producers and other members of the oil industry more broadly, shortly after President Trump met executives from large oil companies at the White House to discuss the threat of a sharp fall in oil prices to disrupt their business.

Bruilett said that the White House encouraged Russia and Saudi Arabia to reach an agreement, adding that Trump is optimistic that an agreement can be reached within a few days.

The expected meeting
Reuters quoted two sources in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) today, Saturday, as saying that the planned video meeting of OPEC and its allies will not take place on Monday, and will probably be postponed to Wednesday or Thursday (April 8 or 9) to allow more time for negotiations between Oil producers on reducing crude supplies.

And sources in OPEC said on Friday that the organization intends to hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss reducing oil production by ten million barrels per day.

Demand slipped
Demand for oil has decreased dramatically in recent weeks due to an outbreak of the Coruna virus and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Falling demand, coupled with an increase in supply caused by the price war, sent US oil futures prices down 54%.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his country's readiness to agree with the "OPEC Plus" mechanism and with the United States to reduce oil production. Putin said he had spoken to Trump, and that everyone was concerned about the situation in the energy markets.

Putin stressed that the reduction of oil production should be in accordance with the principle of partnership of all, explaining that the reduction could be approximately 10 million barrels of production level in the first quarter of this year before the crisis.

Putin attributed the collapse of oil prices to Saudi Arabia's withdrawal from the "OPEC Plus" agreement and its offer of price cuts to keep its competitors out of US shale oil.

He said that Riyadh is trying to get rid of competitors who produce shale oil which succeed to some extent, but Russia does not need it.

Statements and denials
On the other hand, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said that Putin's statement was a shame from the truth. He stressed that it was Russia that refused to extend the production reduction agreement, despite his country’s attempt with 22 other countries to persuade it.

The Saudi Energy Minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, also denied the statements of his Russian counterpart that Riyadh had refused to extend the OPEC Plus agreement and its withdrawal from it, in addition to taking other steps that negatively affected the oil market.

The Saudi minister affirmed that it was the Russian Energy Minister who initiated the media and statement that countries are in the process of discharging their OPEC Plus obligations as of April 1, which led to countries increasing their production to offset lower prices to compensate for the shortfall in revenue.

The Minister affirmed Saudi Arabia's petroleum policy, which stipulates working to balance and stabilize markets to serve the interests of both producers and consumers.

The drop in global demand and the price war has pushed oil prices down this week to their lowest levels in 18 years.

Global oil prices have tumbled by nearly two-thirds this year, with global economies affected by the Corona virus, at a time when Saudi Arabia and Russia have begun to flood the market, amid a price war between them.