Alex Christoforou
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss the Monday phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders discussed plunging oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.
The two leaders “expressed serious concern regarding the scope of the spread of the coronavirus” and “discussed closer cooperation,” according to a Kremlin statement on what it described as the a”lengthy” phone call.
White House and Kremlin statements reported that the oil market turmoil was discussed, with the White House version stating agreement on the “importance of stability in global energy markets.”
Most certainly both leaders focused on how best to deal with Saudi Prince MbS and his oil price war.
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Trump & Putin join forces to SMASH Saudi Prince MbS by The Duran
The Duran Quick Take: Episode 516. The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss the Monday phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders discussed plunging oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a phone call on Monday to have their top energy officials discuss slumping global oil markets, the Kremlin said, as Trump called Russia’s price war with Saudi Arabia “crazy.”
The agreement marks a new twist in global oil diplomacy since a failed deal earlier this month between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia to cut production ignited the price war between Russia and OPEC’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia.
The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic also helped to send oil prices into a historic tailspin, threatening higher-cost drillers in the United States and around the globe with bankruptcy.
“Opinions on the current state of global oil markets were exchanged. It was agreed there would be Russo-American consultations about this through the ministers of energy,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the call.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said the two leaders had agreed on the importance of stability in global energy markets. U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette will talk with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak about “ways the world’s largest producers can address volatility in the global oil markets,” Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said.
The Kremlin did not say what exactly the ministers would discuss, but Moscow has previously signaled it would like to see more countries joining efforts to balance global oil markets.
Shortly before Monday’s phone call, Trump said Saudi Arabia and Russia “both went crazy” in their oil-price war and that “I never thought I’d be saying that maybe we have to have an oil (price) increase, because we do.”
“The price is so low now they’re fighting like crazy over, over distribution and over how many barrels to let go,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News.
The United States has grown in recent years into the world’s largest oil and gas producer, thanks to a technology-driven shale drilling boom. But the current price of oil is below the production cost of many American drillers.
That has threatened the highly leveraged U.S. shale industry.
“We don’t want to have a dead industry that’s wiped out,” Trump said in the interview. “It’s bad for them, bad for everybody. This is a fight between Saudi Arabia and Russia having to do with how many barrels to let out. And they both went crazy, they both went crazy.”
Goldman Sachs analysts said that oil demand from commuters and airlines, which account for about 16 million barrels per day of global consumption, may never return to their previous levels.
Oil prices fell on Monday, with U.S. crude future CLc1 dropping below $20 a barrel and international benchmark Brent LCOc1 falling to 18-year lows.
The Trump administration is also seeking to persuade the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, to cut crude output, and will soon send a special energy envoy, Victoria Coates, to the kingdom.
In addition to oil and the pandemic, Trump said he and Putin would talk about trade and sanctions the United States has imposed on Russia.
After Washington imposed sanctions on two units of Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM) in Venezuela, the company said on Saturday it had sold the assets to an unnamed company owned by the Russian government.
The change of ownership means any future U.S. sanctions on Russian-controlled oil operations in Venezuela would target the Russian government directly. The Trump administration had accused Rosneft of providing a financial lifeline to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, a socialist. Washington recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate interim president.
Late last year, Washington slapped sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, halting work on the project weeks before it was expected to be finished. Russia says the pipeline will be completed eventually. But the delay could allow increased competition for gas markets in Europe, where the United States is eager to export more liquefied natural gas.
Trump said in the Fox interview that Putin has been asking over the last two years for the sanctions to be lifted and probably would do so on the call. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Trump’s claim that Putin had made the requests over the course of the past two years, the TASS news agency said in a report.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
enough countries should stand together in defiance of these evil american sanctions in order to make them invalid.
Never use “should” in a serious comment. Keep it for Easter…
I remember back in 2013/201, when President Obama and Saudi, decided it would be a good idea to try and take out the Russian energy market. They believed that Russian GDP was made up of 50% energy, so manipulated the market, to affect the costs, that would not benefit Russia. Only, they did not factor Russia GDP Budget, which was only 16% reliant on Russian energy exports. Together with the fact that Russia could easily produce a barrel of oil for a few rubles, owing to purchase costs being in rubles and sales being in $US. The plan by Obama… Read more »
Everyone seems to be focussed on oil markets, but how about food markets? US growers have been concerned for several weeks now about not being able to import their usual army of well-trained seasonal agricultural workers who, they say, cannot be replaced by the US workforce who have no such training. I seem to recall that somewhere between 70,000 and 90,000 seasonal workers are needed, but will they be able to cross the US/Mexican border? I haven’t seen a reaction to this potential problem in Canada in spite of Canadians being heavily reliant on imports of US produce, particularly over… Read more »
I would like to see Russia get a good price for its oil and gas, and also not dispense it too quickly. Keep some in the ground for the end game.
If Trump makes a deal with Mr Putin he would break centuries of U.S. deal breaking to do so. President Putin will not lightly agree to a deal with serial truce-breakers. Ergo Trump is down and out for the count. Whoppee! 🙂
Will we see another “crazed Saudi relative assassinates Crown Prince in surprising attack”, as we saw back in 1975 when old Faisal tried to get tough with the US over the Israeli-Arab wars? MbS’s arrogance is becoming a liability…
I think it’s more likely Putin sees an opportunity to strike at the US shake industry as payback for the sanctions and Washington’s attempts to stop Nord Stream 2
If Washington and Moscow can find common ground against Saudi Arabia it will prevent a Russo-American war – for now – postponing it for another day.
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