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The US government has asked Saudi Arabia and a number of other OPEC members to increase their production by around one million barrels a day, Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing anonymous sources.
The request, described by Bloomberg as “rare”, coincides with a rise in crude oil prices, which reached more than $80 a barrel in May for the first time since November 2014.
Citing the same anonymous sources, the business news agency added that it is “unusual for Washington to ask for a specific output hike”.
Plans to increase oil production were already addressed in a meeting held in Kuwait for a number of Arab oil ministers, according to an official OPEC statement that was cited by Bloomberg as well as the official Kuwaiti news agency KUNA.
Read: OPEC, Russia prepared to raise output to lower oil prices amid US pressure