The representative of the White House for national security, John Kirby, said that Saudi Arabia knew that a sharp reduction in oil production would increase Russiaʼs income and ease the pressure of sanctions, but it deliberately took this step, despite the united efforts of the world community to stop Russiaʼs aggression against Ukraine.
CNBC and Anadolu write about it.
According to him, Riyadh informed Washington about the production cut. The Saudis said that such a step is purely "economic in nature" and the request of the Biden administration to postpone this decision for a month has negative consequences for the market since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) seems to have made a balanced decision based on an analysis of the balance of supply and demand.
Kirby said the U.S. provided Saudi Arabia with an analysis to show there was no market basis for cutting production targets. He also emphasized that other OPEC countries "informed privately that they also do not agree with the decision of Saudi Arabia and Russia, but feel compelled to support Saudi Arabia."
The United States is currently reviewing its relations with Saudi Arabia and looking for signs of collusion with the Russian Federation.
- Last week, OPEC and its Russia-led OPEC+ allies agreed to cut oil output by 2 million barrels per day from November to the end of 2023, the biggest cut since April 2020. According to the media, the initiator of the agreement was Russia, and Saudi Arabia supported it. The US asked the Saudis to delay this decision.