Oil falls for second straight day after Trump criticized OPEC

Oil prices dipped in American trade on Friday for the second day on profit-taking away from late-2014 highs hit yesterday, while US President Donald Trump criticized OPEC for their role in raising oil prices recently.  

As of 13:05 GMT, US crude fell to $67.90 a barrel from the opening of $68.20, while Brent dipped to $73.25 a barrel from the opening of $73.59. 

US crude fell 0.9% yesterday while Brent shed 0.3%, the first loss in three days on profit-taking after marking November 2014 highs. 

Prices surged to three-year highs after Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia is targeting $80 or $100 prices per barrel in another sign that the world's largest crude exporter will continue to support prices. 

President Trump criticized OPEC for making crude prices artificially high despite record global supplies, causing discomfort to consumers. 

Otherwise, a crucial ministerial meeting is starting today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between OPEC and allies, mainly Russia, to discuss market updates and the future of the cooperation to cut supplies. 

Saudi oil minister Khalid Al Faleh said OPEC will continue to cooperate with allies in 2019, while Russian counterpart Alexander Novak said OPEC and allies need to maintain a stable market.

The technical committee supervising the output deal reported that global oversupplies have been mostly wiped out as producers commit to the 1.8 million bpd cuts.

In the US, the American Petroleum Institute reported that local oil demand surged to 20.6 million bpd in March, the highest since 2007. 

Later today, Baker Hughes will report on the US oil rig count, after reporting a rise of 7 in the oil rig count last week, the second increase in a row to a total of 815 rigs, the highest since March 2015. 

US production rose 10,000 bpd, the eighth weekly increase in a row to a total of 10.54 million bpd, a record high, and up nearly 25% from mid-2016 levels past Saudi Arabia's 9.9 bpd levels, and near Russia's 11 million bpd levels.