Saudi Arabia has said it rejected a demand from the US to delay the decision on oil production. The cuts will hike gas prices, and it remains one of the key talking points ahead of the mid-term elections in the US.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Oct 13, 2022 22: 53 IST
Mohammed bin Salman (right) with the US president, Joe Biden, in Jeddah in July (Photo: AFP)
By India Today Web Desk: Days after US President Joe Biden warned of consequences over an oil production cut, Saudi Arabia on Thursday said it was “pressurised” by the Biden administration to delay the production cut. The US has not yet responded to Saudi Arabia’s claim.
The Gulf nation on Thursday said the US pressured it to delay by a month a decision to cut oil production, a move that would have reduced the likelihood of an unpopular fuel price rise just before the US mid-term elections, The Guardian reported.
However, Saudi Arabia said it refused to buckle down and went ahead with the cuts.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry implied in a statement that the US had made the request for a one-month delay, although it didn’t specifically mention the November 8 mid-term elections, in which Joe Biden wants to maintain a tight Democratic majority in Congress.
The price of petrol has been a key talking point in the run-up to the polls.
“The government of the Kingdom clarified through its continuous consultation with the US administration that all economic analysis indicates that postponing the OPEC+ decision by a month, according to what has been suggested, would have had negative economic consequences,” the statement read.
Saudi Arabia has maintained that the decision on cuts was taken unanimously by OPEC nations, but the US believes it was a political move by an ally that dismissed US concerns and acted potentially in favour of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
An oil supply cut by Saudi Arabia and its de facto leader