Terrel Hardin was at a diner along Route 66 in western Oklahoma when his phone rang with bad news: The engine on one of his oil rigs had broken. In times past it would be a straightforward $6,000 fix,

Since he returned to the Oval Office, the benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil price has fallen from $80 a barrel to $60 (see chart 1). Some also speculate that Mr Trump’s noisy demands for a lower price contributed to a recent decision by the OPEC cartel to boost production,

President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of U.S. “energy dominance” is running into a flood of OPEC crude oil — a surge of fuel production pushed by the Saudi leaders greeting him during his Mideast trip this week.

As fears of a total economic collapse fade following a temporary U.S.-China trade deal, the upside for oil remains limited due to plentiful supply.

Oil prices jumped by about 4% on Monday after the U.S. and China said they would ease some of their tariff measures, raising hopes of an end to the trade war between the world's two largest consumers of crude oil.