Written by Colleen Howe
BEIJING (Reuters) – Oil prices fell in Asian trading on Tuesday after President Donald Trump announced a plan to boost U.S. oil and gas production and refrained from implementing new tariffs.
Futures fell 11 cents, or 0.14 percent, to $80.04 a barrel by 0156 GMT.
The most actively traded West Texas Intermediate crude contract for March fell 67 cents to $76.72 a barrel from Friday's close. There was no settlement in the US market on January 20 due to a public holiday. The February contract expires on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump announced a plan to boost U.S. oil and gas production and said he was considering imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico starting Feb. 1 rather than immediately, which has helped push oil prices lower.
But in the future, tariffs on Canadian crude may send the market higher.
Almost all of Canada's oil exports go to the United States and are typically sold at a discount to WTI. “U.S. sanctions therefore increase the risk of higher costs for most Canadian oil exports,” Vivek Dhar, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank, said in a note.
Trump has laid out a sweeping plan to speed up oil, gas and energy permitting in order to maximize already high US energy production.
Although he did not immediately impose any sweeping new trade measures, he did ask federal agencies to investigate unfair trade practices by other countries.
Trump also said the United States would “probably” stop buying oil from Venezuela. The United States is the second buyer of Venezuelan oil after China.
In addition, he promised to replenish strategic reserves, a move that could lead to higher oil prices by boosting oil demand.
