Trump, Salman during the visit of the US President to Saudi Arabia

U.S. President Donald Trump has faulted the rising global oil prices, calling on Saudi Arabia to jerk up production to crash the high prices.

Trump in a tweet said he had spoken to King Salman of Saudi Arabia who had agreed to increase production.

The president had again blamed OPEC for high global oil prices on June 13.

“Just spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil & disfunction in Iran and Venezuela I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference…Prices to high! He has agreed! Trump tweeted.

Global oil prices, which ranged from between 40 dollars to 50 dollars a barrel in 2016, increased to about 50 to 60 dollars in 2017, and continued upward to 80 dollars in 2018.

The Russian-Saudi-led deal for Russia and OPEC to cut production in 2017, which was extended for 2018, was seen as one of the main cause of the price spike.

However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated that OPEC crude production only decreased from 32.7 million barrels per day in 2016 to 32.5 million in 2017, a drop of less than one per cent.

However, since U.S. production in 2017 alone increased almost twice as much as this OPEC cut, the Russian-OPEC deal is seen as not the only important cause.