Saudi Arabia’s crude supply rose on Wednesday to a record of more than 12 million barrels per day, two industry sources said. This came a day after a producer pact to rein in oil production expired on Tuesday.
The Kingdom had said that its oil exports would be about 10 million bpd, but it gave no indication of how much crude would go into storage, amid a plunge in demand triggered by the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile, US and Russian energy officials held rare talks about oil after crude prices crashed to levels last seen almost 20 years ago.
For his part, US President Donald Trump warned that oil cheaper “than water” was hurting the industry, Reuters reported.
Oil prices fell nearly 70% from January highs as lockdowns due to the coronavirus hammered demand and as producing nations flooded the market in a race for market share after a deal they engineered on supply curbs broke down.
On Tuesday, US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette spoke with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak about the price slump and they agreed to hold future discussions involving other major world oil producers and consumers.
The call occurred a day after Trump and Russia's president Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone conversation to have their top energy officials discuss global oil market turmoil.
Trump said on Tuesday he would join Saudi Arabia and Russia, if need be, for talks about the fall in oil prices, noting that oil slid towards $25 a barrel, after touching its lowest level in 18 years.
“There is so much oil and in some cases it’s probably less valuable than water. At some points of the world the water is much more valuable. So, we’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said.
