Trump welcomes Saudi oil price drop

President Donald Trump has publicly thanked Saudi Arabia for plunging oil prices – a day after deciding not to further punish the kingdom for the killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Trump made clear in a statement that he feels the benefits of good relations with the kingdom outweigh the possibility its crown prince ordered the killing.

“Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower!” he wrote on his Twitter account.

The international crude benchmark has fallen under $65-per-barrel from a four-year high of more than $86-perbarrel in early October as the US, Saudi Arabia and Russia have stepped up output.

However, OPEC, the cartel of oil-producing countries, could announce production cuts at its December 6 meeting in Vienna, nudging prices upward.

The president condemned the killing of Mr Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post who had criticised the Saudi Royal Family. Mr Trump described the killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul as a “horrible crime that our country does not condone”.

But he rejected calls by many in Congress, including members of his own party, for a tougher response, and he dismissed reports from US intelligence agencies that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must have at known about the plot.