Oil prices likely to fall after US withdraws from climate pact

BANGKOK, June 2 (TNA) -- The international community is watching if the United States will really withdraw from the Paris Agreement after US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. However, the issue will cause oil prices to fall further. Supachai Panitchpakdi, former secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development and former director-general of the World Trade Organization, said in the International CSR Summit 2017 in Bangkok today that he doubted the US would really pull out of the Paris climate change agreement as Trump announced. He believed that the announcement was made as leverage to negotiate for investment in coal mining and the production of shale oil and gas in the US. Consequently the price of crude oil would remain low at US$45-55 a barrel and there would be impacts on global environment, the UN’s Climate Change Fund and the development of renewable energy, Mr Supachai said. Yodphot Wongrukmit, senior executive vice president of Bangchak Corporation, also doubted the US would really withdraw from the Paris Agreement. He said the issue would affect oil prices and the crude price would range between US$50-55 per barrel. (TNA)