WASHINGTON\/LONDON: The OPEC+ organisation\u2019s decision this week to cut oil production despite stiff US opposition has further strained already tense relations between President Joe Biden\u2019s White House and Saudi Arabia\u2019s royal family, once one of Washington\u2019s staunchest Middle East allies, according to interviews with about a dozen government officials and experts in Washington and the Gulf. The White House pushed hard to prevent the OPEC output cut, these sources said. Biden hopes to keep US gasoline prices from spiking again ahead of midterm elections in which his Democratic party is struggling to maintain control of the US Congress. Washington also wants to limit Russia\u2019s energy revenue during the Ukraine war. The US administration lobbied OPEC+ for weeks. In recent days, senior US officials from energy, foreign policy and economic teams urged their foreign counterparts to vote against an output cut, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. Amos Hochstein, Biden\u2019s top energy envoy, along with national security official Brett McGurk and the administration\u2019s special envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking, travelled to Saudi Arabia last month to discuss energy issues, including the OPEC+ decision. They failed to prevent an output cut, just as Biden did after his own July visit. US officials \u201ctried to position it as \u2018us versus Russia,\u2019\u201d said one source briefed on the discussions, telling Saudi officials they needed to make a choice. That argument failed, the source said, adding that the Saudis said that if the United States wanted more oil on the markets, it should start producing more of its own.<\/p>\n
The United States is the world\u2019s No. 1 oil producer and also its top consumer, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.<\/p>\n
The Saudi government media office CIC did not respond to Reuters emailed requests for comment about the discussions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are concerned first and foremost with the interests of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and then the interests of the countries that trusted us and are members of OPEC and the OPEC + alliance,\u201d Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz told Saudi TV Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON\/LONDON: The OPEC+ organisation\u2019s decision this week to cut oil production despite stiff US opposition has further strained already tense relations between President Joe Biden\u2019s White House and Saudi Arabia\u2019s royal family, once one of Washington\u2019s staunchest Middle East allies, according to interviews with about a dozen government officials and experts in Washington and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-288265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n