Biden Administration Begs OPEC For More Oil

• The Biden administration is not giving up on its attempts to convince OPEC that it needs to pump more oil
• White House Press Secretary Psaki: ''We'll continue to use every lever at our disposal''

The Biden administration is not giving up on its attempts to convince OPEC that it needs to pump more oil as retail fuel prices remain uncomfortably high across the United States.

“We are continuing to press, through member countries — member countries of OPEC, even as we are not a member — to address the supply issue and work to address it here as well,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing at the White House.

“I would also note that what we’re also working to address is more of a logistics issue of how we are moving supply around the country, which means there are shortages in some places and not others, and that’s something that we are also working to address,” Psaki also said.

“We are certainly well aware of the impact on any increase in gasoline prices or any costs on the American people, and we’re going to use — continue to use every lever at our disposal,” the press secretary added.

There’s growing disgruntlement among American motorists from rising prices even as local oil production rises.

Meanwhile, imports of crude are falling, according to EIA data.

Earlier this month, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm suggested that the administration might release some crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to put a lid on prices. But later, the department walked back the comments.

OPEC+, meanwhile, is failing to stick to its own production quotas as some members are struggling with years of underinvestment and insufficient exploration, Bloomberg reported this week.

It has been a while since the U.S. first approached OPEC+ for more oil, but so far, the cartel has refused to help bring prices at the pump down. There are OPEC members with spare capacity to utilize but it seems as a whole the group has chosen the cautious approach to ramping up production, which means retail fuel prices might remain elevated for at least the next OPEC+ meeting, on November 4.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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