President Trump’s early morning tweet on Friday accusing OPEC of artificially raising oil prices “very high” isn’t exactly right, Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said.
On the sidelines of a luncheon in Houston on Friday, the second ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate said it’s more likely that oil prices cruised above $68 a barrel this week because of simmering tensions in the Middle East.
Energy markets have been roiled in recent weeks by Syria’s civil war, a conflict oil traders have long feared could spill over to the region’s major oil-exporting countries.
The latest developments drawing worldwide attention to the struggle include the Bashar al-Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against rebel groups in Douma and U.S. bombing strikes against Syrian weapons facilities last week.
“I think that spike has more to do with political concerns about potential conflicts than it is anything else,” Cornyn said. “Those have a tendency to raise oil prices.”
“Looks like OPEC is at it again,” Trump said. “With record amounts of oil all over the place, including the fully loaded ships at sea, oil prices are artificially very high! No good and will not be accepted!”
OPEC has long held a certain level of sway in the oil market, but its power has been significantly reduced since the advent of U.S. shale drilling a few years ago.
“The best solution in the long run is for the United States to continue to produce oil and gas and export it to the world,” Cornyn said. “We’ve lifted the ban on exporting petroleum and now, with natural gas, there are many countries in the world that want to buy it because they have no real choice when it comes to their resources.”
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.
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