Oil near flat, shrugs off Trump calls for OPEC to boost output | Reuters

Oil near flat, shrugs off Trump calls for OPEC to boost output | Reuters:

Oil futures were near flat on Thursday after recovering from the day’s worst losses that came when U.S. President Donald Trump called for OPEC to boost crude output in an effort to lower prices that were headed for their best quarterly gains in a decade.

Futures hit a session low immediately following Trump’s comments, but subsequently rallied above pre-tweet levels.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped 11 cents to settle at $59.30 a barrel. Earlier the contract fell to $58.20 in the wake of Trump’s tweet, where he said it was “very important that OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) increase the flow of Oil” due to fragile world markets.

Brent crude futures lost 1 cent to settle at $67.82 a barrel, after earlier sinking to $66.54 a barrel.