OPEC+ is heading for a politically consequential showdown with U.S. President Joe Biden as Saudi Arabia and its allies weigh up whether to heed American demands for more oil.
If the cartel rebuffs the request, it’s headed for a bare-knuckle fight with the White House, which is worried that inflation caused by high energy prices could derail its economic agenda. Bowing to the pressure and opening the taps would keep Saudi Arabia’s closest ally onside, at the expense of the hard-won crude price recovery that has swelled the kingdom’s coffers.
"You take a look at oil prices,” Biden told reporters at a news conference at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday. Fuel costs are high because of "the refusal of Russia or the OPEC nations to pump more oil.”