Kuwait’s Oil Minister Tareq Al-Rumi said on Thursday that the country expects oil prices to stay below $72 per barrel in the near future, as one of OPEC’s top producers continues to assess market conditions.
Brent crude was trading around $67 per barrel on Thursday morning.
Al-Rumi added that Kuwait, alongside OPEC, is closely monitoring the market as well as statements coming from US President Donald Trump and his administration.
“We are monitoring the market through OPEC, in terms of supply and demand, and we’re watching President Trump’s remarks,” the minister told Reuters.
He pointed to two recent statements and actions from Trump that could serve as strong catalysts for upcoming oil market moves — either upward or downward.
On Wednesday, President Trump stated that “significant progress” had been made during a “highly productive meeting” between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the same time, however, Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on Indian imports, clearly targeting New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian crude oil. The move raises total US tariffs on Indian exports to 50%, the highest rate currently applied by Washington to any country.
The new 50% tariffs are scheduled to take effect 21 days after August 6.
Al-Rumi said Kuwait and OPEC are keeping a close eye on all these developments. According to Kuwait, the oil market remains healthy, with demand growing at a “moderate” pace.
In a related statement, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), told Reuters and a group of journalists that Kuwait is currently producing 2.548 million barrels per day, in line with its current OPEC+ quota.
“Our production capacity is much higher than that, and we deploy it when needed,” the Kuwaiti executive added.
Next month, the OPEC+ alliance is set to conclude the final phase of its largest-ever production cut, after agreeing over the weekend to raise output by 547,000 barrels per day in September.
The final layer of cuts — totaling 1.66 million barrels per day — is still in place through late 2026, unless OPEC+ decides market conditions justify releasing additional supply sooner.
