In response to OPEC+’s announcement last week that it will lower its oil output objective in defiance of U.S. objections, President Joe Biden promised on Tuesday that “there will be consequences” for the United States relations with Saudi Arabia.
He made his remark the day after influential Democratic Senator and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez demanded that the US immediately halt all engagement with Saudi Arabia, including military sales.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Biden declined to say which choices he was contemplating.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, announced that a policy review will be carried out but provided no timetable for action or details on who would be in charge of the examination. Over the upcoming weeks and months, she said, the United States will be closely monitoring the situation.
According to Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the OPEC+ decision was made unanimously by its member states and was solely based on economic considerations.
Prince Faisal told the Al Arabiya television network that “OPEC+ members acted appropriately and made the right decision.”
After weeks of lobbying by U.S. officials against such a step, OPEC+, the oil producer group made up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plus allies including Russia announced the output target. Because Russia disagrees with a Western ceiling on the price of Russian oil in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States accused Saudi Arabia of caving into Moscow.
A production cut had been proposed by the United States’ largest Arab ally, but Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who holds the country’s de facto leadership position, was unmoved.
During Biden’s July visit to Jeddah, Bin Salman and Biden argued over the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
