There may be certain members of OPEC acting as “tools” for a U.S. government looking to capitalize on shale oil momentum, Iran’s oil minister said. Crude oil prices are trading in the mid $70 per barrel range, supported in part by geopolitical risk and an effort by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to tighten a once-oversupplied market with coordinated production cuts. Oil prices jumped more than 3 percent this week after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the Iranian nuclear agreement with world partners, sparking concerns about additional supply shortages. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said in an interview broadcast on Iranian television late Thursday that he believed Trump cut an agreement with certain OPEC members to keep production low in order to support the higher oil prices that stimulate U.S. shale production. “We [OPEC members] argue that the price of […]