As part of a Sunday announcement from Saudi Arabia, which has seen its relationship with the United States sour rapidly throughout the presidency of Old Uncle Joe, explained that it would push for the other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which includes Russia, to cut their output by well over one million barrels a day starting in May, which could spark another extreme spike in inflation within the U.S.
Saudi Arabia also claimed that it would attempt to slash production by 500,000 barrels per day in May. The price for oil climbed 7.5% at the opening of the week in the wake of the announcement from Saudi Arabia. Kevin Book, known as the managing director of Clearview Energy Partners, expressed to CBS News that the cuts would cause U.S. gasoline prices to climb by close to 26 cents per gallon.
This move from Sunday comes in the wake of OPEC's previous decision from October to drop production by roughly two million barrels a day. "There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done with Russia," Biden stated as a threat in October. "I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be — there will be consequences."
"President Biden said he would make the kingdom of Saudi Arabia a pariah state. That was an enormous mistake," expressed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "But let’s look at the facts. They are an important security partner for the United States. There’s only one country in that whole region that wants to threaten the United States of America and Israel and wipe us from the face of the earth. That’s the leadership in Iran and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s been an important partner in helping protect us from that threat."
IN what seems to be the polar opposite of the previously warm relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia during the Trump administration, all of Biden's choices and actions, which includes calling the leadership of Saudi Arabia a "pariah" back in 2019 when he was on the campaign trail, has only ended up alienating the Saudis to the point that they have tried effecting a rapprochement with Iran, their most vocal enemy, brokered by China. Saudi Arabia slashed all ties with Iran in 2016.
"Given the preventive nature of OPEC decisions, there is clearly something OPEC knows about demand trends and inventories that we have yet to discover fully in overall supply and demand balances," stated the global head of energy strategy at JP Morgan, Christyan Malek, to The Wall Street Journal.