OPEC meets as Trump calls for oil taps to be kept on

OPEC members and other oil-producing countries gather in Vienna on Thursday to discuss cutting output to prop up prices, as US President Donald Trump urged them to keep the faucets open.

Oil ministers from 20 or so countries busily criss-crossed the Austrian capital on Wednesday for preparatory negotiations ahead of the two-day meet at the headquarters of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Delegates remained relatively tight-lipped about what had been agreed in a flurry of closed-door meetings in some of Vienna’s most exclusive hotels, even as Trump took to Twitter to urge producers to keep pumping to ensure that the commodity remains affordable.

“Hopefully OPEC will be keeping oil flows as is, not restricted. The World does not want to see, or need, higher oil prices!” said Trump, who has in the past repeatedly accused the cartel of keeping prices artificially high.

At the end of 2016, OPEC’s regular members joined forces with other countries outside the cartel to jointly scale back output in a bid to reduce a glut supply that was weighing on prices at the time.

The coordinated move -which has since been extended -- stimulated a long rally in oil prices right up until October 2018.

Over the past two months, however, prices have plunged again and a barrel of Brent crude, the European benchmark, currently stands at around $60. (AFP)