WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) Saudi Arabian officials bluntly refused to comply with White House requests that the Riyadh-controlled oil producing alliance OPEC+ withhold for a month the production cuts it announced last week, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
According to those familiar with the request, US officials had warned Saudi leaders that a cut would be viewed as a clear choice by Riyadh to side with Russia in the Ukraine war and that the move would weaken already-waning support in Washington for the kingdom, the report said.
US officials asked their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and other big Gulf producers to delay the decision for another month, the report said.
Saudi officials instead thought the Biden administration wanted to buy crucial time before the US midterm elections on November 8, where an oil price spike could have a damning impact on Democrats in power, and said a "resounding no," the report added.
Beyond the refusal, the kingdom actually leaned on its OPEC allies, which include Russia, to approve the cut, which was announced on October 5 and aimed at reducing production by 2 million barrels per day.
Control of Congress could switch from the Democrats to the Republicans if oil prices, which have already raised US inflation to 40-year highs, continue to anger Americans.
Gasoline at US pumps hit a record high of $5 per gallon in mid-June before the Biden administration drew down about 150 million barrels from the country's oil reserve to bring the price down to as low as $3.70 on the average mid-September.
However, the price has started climbing again over the past two weeks and could escalate with the OPEC+ production cuts.
The Journal report appeared as White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN on Tuesday that the United States needs to reevaluate its relationship with Saudi Arabia.
"I think the president's been very clear that this is a relationship that we need to continue to re-evaluate, that we need to be willing to revisit, and certainly in light of the OPEC decision, I think that's where he is. And he's willing to work with Congress to think through what that relationship ought to look like going forward," Kirby said when asked for his reaction to Democrats' calls to freeze weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
The 2 million barrels per day cut came on the heels of a more modest 100,000 barrels per day reduction agreed to by OPEC+ in early September. But global oil prices continued to fall after that cut, with benchmark Brent crude slumping to around $82 per barrel from a high of almost $140 in March. That prompted OPEC+ to embark on a more meaningful cut.
The Journal said the White House was already upset by the September production cut, which virtually wiped out the 100,000 barrels per day increase that OPEC+ announced after Biden's maiden visit to Saudi Arabia in July.
Saudi officials had originally planned a 500,000 barrels per day increase as a sign of goodwill towards the visit. But Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has a testy relationship with Biden, personally saw to it that the increase be reduced to 100,000 barrels per day.
The US State Department's energy-security envoy, Amos Hochstein, then sent the Saudi energy minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman, an email that suggested he had broken his word promising a larger increase, those familiar with the matter told the Journal. The email angered Abdulaziz and strengthened his resolve to forge an oil policy independent of the United States, the report added.
The top ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Menendez, and other leading Democrats have called for halting weapons sales to Saudi Arabia after Riyadh's decision to back OPEC+ cuts to oil production.
