Government officials and experts in Washington and the Gulf said the OPEC + group’s decision to cut oil production this week despite fierce American opposition has increased pressure on the already strained relations between the White House under President Joe Biden and the Saudi royal family, which was once one of Washington’s strongest allies in the Middle East.
In interviews with Reuters, more than 10 sources said the White House lobbied hard to stop OPEC from cutting production.
Biden hopes to prevent a further increase in gasoline prices in the United States ahead of the midterm elections in which his Democratic Party is struggling to maintain a majority in Congress. Washington also wants to limit Russia’s energy revenues during the war in Ukraine.
The US administration has been putting pressure on OPEC + for weeks. In recent days, senior US officials in the energy, foreign policy and economic sectors have urged their overseas counterparts to vote against production cuts, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
Amos Hochstein, Biden’s chief energy envoy, accompanied by National Security Officer Brett McGurk, and U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, traveled to Saudi Arabia last month to discuss of energy issues, including the OPEC + decision. But they failed to prevent production cuts, just as Biden did after his visit to Saudi Arabia in July.
A source familiar with the discussions said US officials “tried to describe him as ‘us versus Russia'” and that they told their Saudi counterparts they wanted to choose.
He added that this method failed, noting that the Saudis responded that if the US wanted more oil in the markets, it should start increasing its own production.
The United States is the world’s largest oil producer and also the largest consumer of crude oil, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.