By Laila Kearney
(Reuters) – Oil markets sank on Friday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump pressured OPEC and its de facto leader Saudi Arabia to lower prices in a broad push to drive up crude production.
futures were down 50 cents at $77.95 a barrel by 0044 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) shed 31 cents to $74.31.
Trump, during his speech on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said he would demand the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries bring down the cost of crude barrels.
Trump also said he would ask Riyadh to increase a U.S. investment package to $1 trillion, up from $600 billion reported by the Saudi state news agency earlier in the day.
Uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs policies, and the potential the newly inaugurated president will push for higher U.S. oil output, also weighed on crude futures, analysts said.
Shrinking inventories, which hit their lowest level since March 2022 last week according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, kept oil prices from falling further.
The EIA report, issued a day late because of a U.S. holiday on Monday, said crude stockpiles fell by 1 million barrels to 411.7 million barrels in the week to Jan. 17, marking a ninth consecutive weekly decline. [EIA/S]
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