Bill to obstruct OPEC advances in Congress

Nevertheless, there are signs that the new thrust of NOPEC in Congress has baffled OPEC. The group advised member countries not to mention oil prices in their discussions on production policy. Last month, the Wall Street Journal announced that the group was planning to launch a campaign to influence the US perception of OPEC.

This comes as some members of OPEC are trying to extend the group's two-year alliance with Russia and nine other producers. In 2016, the so-called OPEC + coalition reached a historic agreement to cut production in order to drain an overall glut of crude oil and put an end to a painful drop in the price of oil.

On Thursday, Barclays said the adoption of the NOPEC law could see the oil market return to a period of instability.

"Overall, we believe that if this legislation were pbaded, it would threaten the sustainability of OPEC and OPEC groups, increase market volatility and make the floor even more fragile. prices under the prices, "said Michael Cohen, head of commodity research at Barclays said in a research note.

The cuts made by OPEC + that began in 2017 have allowed the oil price to gradually recover to its highest level in three years, around $ 70 a barrel, early last year. The rebound accelerated last spring, as Trump was preparing to reinstate sanctions against Iran, prompting OPEC + to reverse the trend in June and increase the production. But in December, the group decided to further reduce production due to falling oil prices.

Despite his public criticism, Trump found the OPEC useful sometimes. The president lobbied the group for it to use its control over about a third of the world's oil supply to drive down oil prices. He thanked Saudi Arabia after the kingdom had risen by nearly a million barrels a day between June and November.

But Trump has not tweeted about OPEC since Saudi rulers in Riyadh challenged him and imposed further cuts in production in December.

Meanwhile, the Saudis made it clear at the time that they felt trapped in Trump's decision to allow several of Iran's biggest customers to continue importing oil from the Islamic Republic. .

This is a view shared by some leaders of the oil sector.

"The prospect of Iranian sanctions and the withdrawal of Iranian oil from the market has really started to drive up prices, and of course, when the waivers were issued by the US government as OPEC began to produce more, we had Michael Wirth, president and CEO of Chevron, said Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" channel.