Trump asked OPEC to increase production while WTI closed slightly higher.

U.S. crude oil futures closed slightly higher on Monday, and U.S. President Trump on Friday asked the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase production to ease the impact of tightening U.S. sanctions on Iran, halting weeks of gains.

On April 29, WTI crude oil futures rose to $63.50 a barrel in June, an increase of $0.20. Brent crude oil futures fell to $72.04 a barrel in July, a decrease of $0.11.

Trump asked OPEC to increase U.S. crude oil futures to rise on Monday

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The two crude oil contracts fell about 3% last Friday after Trump told reporters that he had called OPEC and asked the organization to lower oil prices. Trump did not say who to talk to, nor did he say whether he was talking about previous discussions with OPEC officials.

As the details are still unclear, analysts and market participants put aside these comments.

“There is no OPEC representative or the Saudi government to acknowledge any discussion in this regard,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates. “Trump has also adopted this obvious practice of lowering the price of gasoline. Although it initially caused the price of gasoline to fall, the price reached a new high, sometimes within a few days.”

Trump’s remarks initially triggered a sell-off, briefly suppressing the gains since the beginning of the year, with a cumulative increase of 40%. Analysts said technical factors exacerbated price declines, including excessive speculative long positions in US crude oil.

In the week ending April 23, speculators increased the net long position of crude oil futures and options in New York and London by 24,078 to 326,818, the highest level since early October. This is the ninth consecutive week of growth.

Oil prices accelerated in April, after Trump tightened sanctions against Iran and completely ended the previous exemption for Iranian crude oil buyers.

A senior Iranian official said on Monday that the US sanctions on the Iranian oil industry would undermine the stability of the global oil market. “These sanctions are an example of the US’s strong reaction to changes in the balance of power in the world,” Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia said in a report published by the Ministry of Petroleum news website SHANA.

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