Investing.com - President Trump is unhappy about the price of crude oil, but in criticizing OPEC for artificially inflating prices, he's overlooking three key supply and demand factors.
Analysts say concerns the President won't renew the trade sanction waiver for major OPEC producer Iran are equal to a $10 a barrel premium, half of which is already priced into the market. The question is how much supply would be lost.
The decision by OPEC, Russia and others to cut back on production has helped U.S shale oil producers, whose production costs are higher. As crude prices have risen over the past year, so has shale output and the U.S. share of global production. So, the U.S., whose oil production is the highest in almost 50 years, is benefitting from the situation.
More generally, oil prices are high because global economic growth, including that in the U.S., has been strong and is strengthening still, thus increasing demand from businesses and consumers. And experts expect U.S. producers to meet the bulk of new demand.