The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, halted its losing streak on March 19, trading around $28 per barrel as the United States President, Donald Trump, said he might intervene in the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Brent, against which Nigeria’s crude is priced, fell to $24.89 per barrel on March 18 but rose to $28.78 per barrel on March 19 as of 7.50pm Nigerian time.
Oil prices surged the most since 2008 as Middle East producers began to show signs of strain and as the U.S. president said he would get involved in the oil price standoff at the ‘appropriate time’, according to Bloomberg.
Trump said he was searching for ‘medium ground’ in the oil price war.
He said;
It’s very devastating to Russia because the whole economy is based on that, and they have the lowest prices in decades. I would say it’s very bad for Saudi Arabia.
But they’re in a fight, they’re in a fight on price, they’re in a fight on output. At the appropriate time, I’ll get involved.
Earlier, the US said it would kick off its commitment to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by buying 30 million barrels of American oil.
