The Biden administration confirmed on Oct. 13 that it asked Saudi Arabia to delay an OPEC+ vote to cut oil production until its next meeting, which comes after the 2022 midterm elections.
“We presented Saudi Arabia with analysis to show that there was no market basis to cut production targets, and that they could easily wait for the next OPEC meeting to see how things developed,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
He didn’t directly say that the White House had sought to have Saudi Arabia, a key member of OPEC, delay the vote until after the midterms. But according to OPEC’s website, the organization’s next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 4, about a month after the midterm elections in which analysts favor Republicans to take back at least the House.
Other OPEC countries also allegedly “communicated to us privately that they also disagreed with the Saudi decision, but felt coerced to support Saudi’s direction” to slash oil production during last week’s meeting, according to Kirby. He didn’t provide any examples but said the United States would reevaluate its relationship with the Saudi government.
“As the President has said, we are reevaluating our relationship with Saudi Arabia in light of these actions, and will continue to look for signs about where they stand in combatting Russian aggression,” he said.
Kirby’s comment was issued in response to an Oct. 12 statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry refuting allegations that the kingdom took sides with Russia against the United States.
‘Consequences’
During an interview this week with CNN, U.S. President Joe Biden said there would be undisclosed consequences for the oil production cut.“When the House and Senate get back, they’re going to have to—there’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done, with Russia,” Biden told CNN. “I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be ... there will be consequences.”
Since Biden took office in January 2021, gas prices steadily increased before surging to record highs in June, when AAA data showed the average price reached higher than $5 per gallon nationwide.
Republicans say that Biden’s policies targeting domestic oil production have, in part, triggered the high gas prices and have contributed to decades-high inflation. Data released on Oct. 13 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that a key inflation metric, the Consumer Price Index, rose 8.2 percent year-over-year for September.
In the days after taking office last year, Biden signed executive orders suspending some federal drilling leases, ending the construction of the Canada-to-U.S. Keystone pipeline, and ending some federal subsidies while he and some Democrats have promoted electric vehicles.
