King Salman assured President Donald Trump that the kingdom will agree to an oil production boost if needed and the country has 2 million barrels per day of spare capacity, the White House said on Saturday, rowing back on an earlier Trump tweet that appeared to suggest the Saudis had agreed to boost output by that amount.

The White House said in a statement that Trump told King Salman that the oil market could need more supply when the men spoke on Friday The King said he was ready to raise output if needed.

“King Salman affirmed that the Kingdom maintains a two million barrel per day spare capacity, which it will prudently use if and when necessary to ensure market balance,” read the statement.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) confirmed a phone call between the two leaders about oil, but mentioned no specifics.

The SPA said Trump had called King Salman and the two highlighted “the necessity of doing efforts in order to preserve the stability of the oil market and the global economy growth”.

They also discussed “efforts of the producing countries to cover any possible shortage in supplies,” the agency said in its brief report.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest oil exporter and has usually kept at least 1.5 million to 2m barrels per day (bpd) of spare capacity, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

SOURCE : ALBILAD