Saudi Arabia: Support oil production reduction US side: Standing in the wrong line has consequences

US media disclosed on October 11 that Saudi Arabia "straightforwardly" refused the US government's request to suspend its decision to support major oil producers to significantly reduce oil production, and the US side believed that Saudi Arabia's move was tantamount to "siding" Russia and threatening to "reassess" US-Saudi relations
.
U.
S
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President Joseph Biden warned that Saudi Arabia's approach "must have consequences.
"

Saudi says "no" loudly

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, US officials have warned Saudi Arabia that if it supports oil production cuts, it will be regarded as supporting Russia on the Ukrainian issue, which will damage the already weakened support
of the United States for Saudi Arabia.

According to the report, US officials asked Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil producers to postpone the implementation of production cuts for a month, but Saudi Arabia believes that the Biden administration made this request only because it is worried that oil prices will continue to soar during the critical period before the US mid-term congressional elections on November 8, which will greatly suppress the support of the Democratic Party, so it said a "resounding no"
.

The "OPEC+" mechanism, composed of members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) led by Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC oil producers such as Russia, decided on the 5th of this month to significantly reduce production from November this year, reducing monthly production by an average of 2 million barrels
per day on the basis of August production.

The US inflation rate has remained at a 40-year high for many months, and the public is dissatisfied with the Biden administration's failure to
curb fuel prices.
Sharp cuts in major oil producers are expected to further push up oil prices, putting more pressure
on the Democratic Party's election campaign.

The Wall Street Journal disclosed that when Biden visited Saudi Arabia for the first time as president in July, Saudi Arabia originally planned to propose an average increase of 500,000 barrels per day in major oil producers as a "goodwill signal" to the United States, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has a dispute with the Biden administration, insisted on reducing the increase to 100,000 barrels
.
Not long after this small production increase was implemented, OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers decided in September to cut monthly production by an average of 100,000 barrels per day, which is equivalent to returning to the level before Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia, causing dissatisfaction
in the White House.

According to people familiar with the matter, Amos Hochstein, senior adviser to the U.
S.
State Department for energy security, expressed the dissatisfaction
to Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman by email.
The latter, angered by the email, strengthened his determination to
"develop an energy policy independent of the United States.
"

Biden warns of "consequences"

Although Saudi Arabia has repeatedly expressed support for oil production cuts "for purely economic reasons", US White House press secretary Carina Jean-Pierre said on the 11th that Saudi Arabia's move is "undoubtedly consistent with Russia"
.

Several Democratic members of Congress have called for punitive measures
against Saudi Arabia.
Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged an immediate freeze on all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales; Senate Armed Services Committee members Richard Blumenthal and Rep.
Ro Connor have tabled a bill
to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on the 11th that Biden has clearly realized the need to "reassess" relations with Saudi Arabia to ensure that the US-Saudi relationship "serves our national security interests"
.

Biden said in an interview with CNN on the 11th that he would discuss with Congress how to deal with US-Saudi relations
.
He did not say whether he would agree to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, but stressed that the Saudi approach "will definitely have consequences.
"

According to the Associated Press, Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States in the Middle East "(relationship) important and complex", and it remains to be seen
to what extent Biden "is willing to show his dissatisfaction to Saudi Arabia.
"