The oil industry is breathing a sigh of relief after oil prices kickstarted Friday’s trading session on a strong rally that was fueled by reports of a meeting between U.S President Trump and oil industry executives.
The meeting between POTUS and top executives from the oil industry was reportedly scheduled to take place on Friday. The aim of the meeting is to discuss how the government can provide support to the oil industry to facilitate recovery. This is after the recent hit that the industry received which saw oil prices drop to the lowest levels that have been witnessed in the last 18 years.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at the White House. Some of the oil industry execs that will be in attendance include Darren Woods, the CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), Vicki Hollub, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY), and Mike Wirth of Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), among others.
Oil prices are already recovering after the news about the meeting
Oil prices have already started to gain after reports of the upcoming meeting started tricking in. The upside has seen the price of WTI Crude surge to around 25.61 on Friday morning as investors expect the meeting to yield positive results. Oil prices experienced a massive tumble over the past few weeks which was mainly caused by a drastic fall in demand for fuel as the coronavirus turned into a global catastrophe.
The airline industry which is one of the industries that consume the largest share of fuel has been heavily affected as people have not been traveling. People have also been staying indoors and this means less time on the road, thus contributing to lower demand for oil and oil products. The situation was also made worse by the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia which led to an oversupply of oil in the market, thus contributing to the declining oil prices.
It is currently not clear what measures Trump has in store for the oil industry but the meeting demonstrates the government’s willingness to help the industry. Trump previously noted that the lower oil prices are good for the consumer but they have been hurting the oil companies.
