World crude prices drop

World oil prices decline on July 5 after U.S. President Donald Trump urged OPEC countries to reduce gasoline prices.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dropped by 0.7 percent, to $77.69 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped by 0.34 percent, to $73.89 a barrel, according to RIA Novosti.

Oil prices dropped after Trump on his Twitter account said that OPEC raises prices for gasoline, and called on the organization to reduce them.

“The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up & they are doing little to help. If anything, they are driving prices higher as the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s. This must be a two way street. Reduce pricing now!” he wrote.

Previously, Trump told the media that OPEC was manipulating the oil market and should stop it. The U.S. President also noted that OPEC should increase production by two million barrels a day.

The oil market may be affected by the data of the Energy Department of the U.S. on the stocks of raw materials in the country. Analysts believe that commercial reserves (excluding the strategic reserve) for the past week decreased by 5.2 million barrels, or 1.3 percent- to 411.4 million barrels.

Analysts of National Australia Bank (NAB) predicts that in the next few months the price for Brent crude oil will be in the range of $75 to $80 per barrel, according to Reuters.

Earlier, OPEC and a group of nonOPEC countries agreed that they would return to 100 percent compliance with previously agreed oil output cuts, after months of underproduction by OPEC countries.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached an agreement in December 2016 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1.

Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from January 1, 2017.

OPEC and its partners decided to extend its production cuts till the end of 2018 in Vienna on November 30, as the oil cartel and its allies step up their attempt to end a three-year supply glut that has savaged crude prices and the global energy industry.