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(CNSNews.com) – Several of Saudi Arabia’s partners in OPEC+ are lining up behind the kingdom in its dispute with the United States over the recent oil production cut, rejecting the U.S. contention that the decision amounted to siding with Russia, against U.S. interests.
The Biden administration has not commented directly on Riyadh’s claim that it had turned down a suggestion – apparently made by the U.S. – to hold off on a decision on oil output for a month, a delay that would have postponed the matter until just before the U.S. midterm election.
National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby late last week described as “spin” the Saudi defense of the OPEC+ decision on October 5 to reduce production by two million barrels a day, but did not directly address the claim of a requested one-month delay.
The State Department had earlier said it could not confirm the postponement request claim, and at a daily briefing on Monday principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel was again given an opportunity to comment on it.
“Are we to take the Saudis’ word for it, since they said that the one-month cut was asked for?” a reporter asked.
“I don’t have anything to offer on that,” Patel replied, then repeated talking points aired last week, to the effect the U.S. had made clear to the Saudis that their intention to reduce oil production would impact supply and benefit Russia.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was blunter, saying that Saudi Arabia “did side with Russia, against the interests of the American people,” which was why President Biden was looking to reevaluate the U.S. relationship with the kingdom.
Biden has warned of “consequences,” and Sullivan confirmed that options under consideration included “changes to our approach to security assistance to Saudi Arabia” – a step being pushed by some Senate Democrats.
Sullivan also said Biden has no plans to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when both are expected to attend a G20 summit in Indonesia next month.
In his statement last week about the OPEC+ decision, Kirby said some members of the group had told the U.S. privately that they felt “coerced to support” the Saudi position, despite opposing it.
No OPEC+ member has yet said so publicly, however. On the contrary, some of the group’s major members, including the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria and Oman, have thrown their support behind Saudi Arabia in recent days.
Iraq, the UAE, and Kuwait are respectively the third, fifth, seventh biggest oil producers among the 23 current members of OPEC+.
Earlier the Financial Times, citing sources close to the talks, reported that the UAE and Iraq were among those in OPEC+ that had misgivings about reducing output.
Those two governments, however, have now clearly expressed support for the decision.
“I would like to clarify that the latest OPEC+ decision, which was unanimously approved was a pure technical decision, with NO political intentions whatsoever,” tweeted UAE energy minister Suhail Al-Mazroueit.
“OPEC+ decisions are based on economic indicators and are adopted unanimously,” said Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) in a statement.
“There is a broad consensus among OPEC+ countries that the best practical approach to handle the oil market situations for the current period which is overwhelmed by uncertainty and blurred vision is a proactive approach that supports market stability and offers essential guidance in the future.”
SOMO called the decision to cut output “a significant step in the right direction to achieve market stability especially in light of the current downturn.”
U.S. officials have indicated that the Saudi move to reduce production would help Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Pushing back, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman drew attention on Twitter to a tweet from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, thanking Riyadh for expressing its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity” and for its vote in favor of last Wednesday’s U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning the Kremlin’s attempt to seize four Ukrainian regions.
“We are astonished by the accusations that the kingdom is standing with Russia in its war with Ukraine,” commented bin Salman, who is the younger brother of the crown prince. “It is telling that these false accusations did not come from the Ukrainian government.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday Biden wants to be “methodical and strategic” in his consultations with members of Congress about how to recalibrate the relationship with Saudi Arabia.
“This relationship with Saudi Arabia, it was done in a bipartisan way if you look at the last several decades,” she said. “And we want to be able to do that as well as we move forward with re-- realigning, readjusting our relationship with Saudi Arabia.”