DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Thursday that the United States had suggested postponing the resolution through OPEC and its allies, adding Russia, to cut oil production for a month. threat of a rise in gasoline costs ahead of next month’s U. S. midterm elections.
A statement released through the Saudi Foreign Ministry makes no particular mention of the November 8 election in which US President Joe Biden seeks to maintain his narrow Democratic majority in Congress. However, he said the United States had “suggested” the cuts would be delayed by a month. Finally, OPEC announced the cuts at its meeting on October 5 in Vienna.
Delaying the cuts would likely delay any increase in gas costs until after the election.
Rising oil costs, and by extension emerging fuel costs, have been a key driving force of inflation in the US. The U. S. and worldwide economic problems are compounded by the U. S. and around the world, as Russia’s months-long war with Ukraine has also disrupted the world’s food supply. For Biden, emerging fuel costs may be just voters. He and many lawmakers have warned that the longstanding security-based relationship between the United States and the kingdom could be reconsidered.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry’s resolution to factor in a rare and long-standing relationship showed how tense relations between the two countries have become.
The White House backtracked on Thursday, rejecting the idea that the requests are similar to the U. S. election and instead linking them to economic considerations and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“We presented Saudi Arabia with an investigation to show that there is no market basis for lowering production targets, and that they can wait smoothly until the next OPEC assembly to see how things evolve,” said John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for national security. Advice.
“Other OPEC countries have told us privately that they also disagree with Saudi Arabia’s decision, but that they feel compelled to accept Saudi leadership,” he added, without naming the countries.
Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia have been strained since the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, who Washington says he ordered through Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. it has armed and supported Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said the kingdom had discussed with the United States the postponement of OPEC’s 2 million barrel cut announced last week.
“The kingdom’s government has clarified in its ongoing consultation with the US leadership that all economic analyses imply that the postponement of OPEC’s resolution for one month, as suggested, would have had negative economic consequences,” the ministry said in its statement. .
The ministry showed the main points of a Wall Street Journal article this week that quoted unnamed Saudi officials as saying the United States was trying to delay OPEC production cuts just before the midterm elections. The newspaper quoted Saudi officials as describing the move as a political gamble through Biden. ahead of the vote.
The kingdom has also criticized linking its resolution to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“The kingdom emphasizes that while striving to maintain the strength of its relations with all friendly countries, it affirms its rejection of any diktat, action or effort aimed at distorting its noble objectives of protecting the global economy from oil market volatility,” he said. . . ” Resolving demanding economic situations requires the status quo of a constructive discussion that is not politicized, and that with wisdom and rationality serves the interests of all countries. “
Saudi Arabia and neighboring United Arab Emirates, OPEC’s most sensitive producers, voted Wednesday in favor of a United Nations General Assembly solution condemning Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of 4 Ukrainian regions and its prompt cancellation is not easy.
In Congress, U. S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who has long criticized Saudi Arabia, proposed a new freeze on military aid to the kingdom. He advised avoiding a planned movement of surface-to-air missiles to Riyadh and sending them to Ukraine. which has faced a new barrage of Russian fire in recent days.
Saudi Arabia has been targeted by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who control that country’s capital amid the long and bitter war in the Arab world’s poorest country. Air defenses have been shooting down drones with bombs introduced by the Houthis targeting the kingdom.
Ever strong enough to avoid the U. S. oil embargo. UU. de the 1970s, OPEC needed non-members like Russia to impose a production cut in 2016 after costs collapsed below $30 a barrel amid emerging U. S. production. U. S. The 2016 deal gave rise to what’s known as OPEC, which joined the cartel by cutting production to increase costs.
Biden, who called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” in his 2020 election campaign, visited the kingdom in July and punched Prince Mohammed before a meeting. Despite the conscience, the kingdom has supported keeping oil costs high to fund Prince Mohammed’s aspirations, adding its $500 billion futuristic desert city allocation called Neom.
Prince Mohammed and his father, King Salman, welcomed former President Donald Trump on his first foreign trip and enjoyed closer relations with his administration. Yet even Trump pressed the kingdom for oil production, and once told a crowd that King Salman “might not be here” without him. U. S. Army support
On Tuesday, Biden warned of the repercussions for Saudi Arabia of OPEC’s decision.
“There will be consequences for what they did with Russia,” Biden said. “I’m not going to get into what I would do and what I have in mind. But there will be, there will be consequences.
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Associated Press Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
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