US asks OPEC to up oil production by 1.0m barrels per day

The US government is understood to have asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to increase oil production by about 1m barrels a day.

The request came after US retail gasoline prices surged to their highest in more than three years, with President Trump taking to Twitter to voice his anger over OPEC policy and rising prices.

In a mid-April post, Trump said: "Looks like Opec is at it again. Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!"

According to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter, the alleged request also follows the reimposition of sanctions on Iran's crude exports by the US.

Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are believed to be the only four countries with any excess production capacity available to offset the impact of the Iran sanctions.

The White House’s request is understood to have been debated at a meeting of some OPEC member country’s representatives in Kuwait on Saturday, a meeting that yielded a statement pledging to make oil supplies available in order to meet growing demand and offset declines around the world.

Saudi Arabia and Russia have already begun ramping-up production after the collapse of the Venezuelan oil industry sent developed countries' oil inventories back to their five-year average.

Current production is hindered by a 2016 agreement between group of OPEC members and non-members such as Mexico, Kazakhstan and Russia which cut oil output by a combined 1.8m barrels per day in order to boost oil prices, causing the global benchmark, Brent crude, to rise from under $45 a barrel to $80 a barrel since the deal was signed.