Trump criticises Saudi plan to cut oil production, sending prices down

US President Donald Trump has criticised Saudi Arabia's announcement that it would cut oil production to boost prices, increasing tensions between Washington and Riyadh.

"Hopefully, Saudi Arabia and OPEC will not be cutting oil production. Oil prices should be much lower based on supply!" Trump said in a tweet.

Following Trump's tweet, oil prices fell again. The presidential tweet late on Monday was in response to news that OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, and allies including Russia were signaling willingness to consider production cuts to stem a six-week slide in crude prices.

Oil prices were up slightly at the time but soon went south.

Benchmark US crude dropped 0.4 percent to settle at $59.93 a barrel in New York, the 11th straight loss.

Brent crude, the standard for pricing international oil, slipped 0.1 percent to close at just over $70 a barrel in London.

Trump has previously accused OPEC of artificially propping up oil prices, even issuing thinly veiled threats to Saudi Arabia over production cuts.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister called on Monday for a global output cut of 1 million barrels per day to re-balance the market, as Riyadh unveiled plans to cut production by 500,000 bpd from December.

"The technical analysis we reviewed yesterday shows that we need a reduction approaching one million bpd to balance the market," Khalid al-Falih told an energy conference in Abu Dhabi.

The proposed reduction is from October production levels, Falih said.

Oil prices have shed a fifth of their value over the past month due to oversupply and signs of a softer-than-expected impact from US sanctions on Iranian crude exports.