By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States does not know formal details of Saudi Arabian and Russian plans to reduce oil supply yet and will not ask U.S. domestic oil producers to chip in with their own cuts, a senior administration official told Reuters on Thursday.
President Donald Trump said in a tweet earlier on Thursday he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut approximately 10 million barrels from daily production, sparking a dramatic jump in oil prices. The official said the details were still unclear but a big cut was expected.
Trump is set to meet with leaders of U.S. oil companies on Friday. He will discuss domestic production cuts but will not ask the executives to agree on a coordinated drop in supplies, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official said the United States cannot orchestrate a mandated cut in domestic production.
U.S. companies had already cut production in response to the market and as storage space filled up, he said.
The government was considering suspending royalty payments on oil production to help domestic suppliers.
The official predicted a shakeup within the U.S. oil industry, which has flourished in recent years, making the United States the top global producer of oil and gas.
Whether the government ended up providing financial support to mid- and small-sized oil companies remained to be seen, he said.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Chizu Nomiyama)
