U.S. not negotiating with Saudi Arabia, Russia; wants them to reach oil deal -source

The White House is not negotiating with Saudi Arabia or Russia over a deal to cut oil production and wants the two parties to come to an agreement among themselves, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told industry executives on a call on Friday, according to a source who listened in. Brouillette spoke with independent producers and other members of the broader oil industry shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump met with executives from major oil companies at the White House to discuss the sharp oil-price downturn threatening to upend their businesses.

The energy secretary said the White House is encouraging Russia and Saudi Arabia to come to an agreement, adding that Trump was optimistic that a deal could be reached in a few days. Oil demand has fallen dramatically in recent weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak and a Saudi-Russia price war. Plummeting demand, coupled with the flood of supply resulting from the price war, led U.S. oil futures prices to crash 54% in March.

White House officials also said on the call that Trump has directed his energy and treasury secretaries to find ways to immediately improve liquidity for the energy sector, and could include relaxing banking standards to provide more credit to oil companies, the source said. OPEC sources have said they wanted to see U.S. production cut in order to curb their own output. Russia and other countries have reduced production for three years while U.S. supply surged to an all-time record, helping them gain market share of oil sales. (Reporting By Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Daniel Wallis)

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