Alwaght- Oil prices hit a four-year high of $81.48 a barrel on Tuesday after OPEC and Russia appeared to reject calls from the US to increase production amid looming sanctions against Iranian crude oil exports.
Brent crude hit its highest level since November 2014 at $81.48 a barrel, just days after a meeting in the Algerian capital to discuss global supply levels ended with no formal agreement.
The oil price is on course for its fifth consecutive quarterly increase, the longest stretch of gains since early 2007, when a six-quarter run led to a record high of $147.50 a barrel.
US President Donald Trump slammed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week, saying the 15-member oil cartel should keep crude prices low because of the military protection the US provided for the region.
"We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
OPEC and its biggest oil-producer ally outside the group, Russia, effectively rebuffed Trump's demand to lower prices on Sunday and failed to provide answers on how they would counter falling supplies from Iran.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter has increased production to around 10.4 million barrels of crude per-day over the past two months.
But according to the American newspaper, the kingdom's state-run oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co, known as Aramco, doesn't have the capacity to meet future demand if Iran oil exports decreases.
Citing oil traders, the WSJ said with the combination of sanctions on Iranian oil and supply limitations in Saudi Arabia, there could be a "price spike, likely $90 to $100" a barrel.
Commodity traders Trafigura and Mercuria have also warned that Brent crude prices could rise to $90 a barrel by December and pass $100 in early 2019.
