A day after President Biden threatened “there will be consequences” for OPEC+’s decision to reduce its production target by 2 million bpd, Saudi Arabia came out with a statement that expressed “its total rejection” of Biden’s and other statements from Washington with regard to the decision.
“The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would first like to express its total rejection of these statements that are not based on facts, and which are based on portraying the OPEC+ decision out of its purely economic context. This decision was taken unanimously by all member states of the OPEC+ group,” the statement, from the Foreign Ministry, said.
It comes in response to calls from Democratic Congressmen to punish Saudi Arabia for this decision by suspending U.S. arms sales to the Kingdom and President Biden being said to re-examine all aspects of the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
“There is a range of interests and values that are implicated in our relationship with that country,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters this week, as quoted by CNN.
“The President will examine all of that. But one question he’s going to ask is: Is the nature of the relationship serving the interest and values of the United States and what changes would make it better serve the interests and values?”
Saudi Arabia made a point of insisting that the OPEC+ decision was one made by more than one country and on purely economic grounds.
“The Kingdom affirms that the outcomes of the OPEC+ meetings are adopted through consensus among member states, and that they are not based on the unilateral decision by a single country.
“These outcomes are based purely on economic considerations that take into account maintaining balance of supply and demand in the oil markets, as well as aim to limit volatility that does not serve the interests of consumers and producers, as has been always the case within OPEC +,” the Foreign Ministry statement said.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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I recall commenting for oil price.com that Saudi Arabia should have severed immediately its relations with the United States when former President Trump publicly insulted King Salman of Saudi Arabia in a typical crude and thuggish manner when he told an election meeting that the Saudi Royal Family wouldn’t stay in power for two weeks without US protection. Of course Trump was asking the king for mafia-like protection money for supposedly protecting Saudi Arabia and its oil from Iran when in fact the US has been since the days of the Shah playing Iran and Saudi Arabia against each other to con the Saudis to buy more American weapons worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
These days have gone for ever, hence Saudi Arabia’s total and blunt rejection of threats and statements by President Biden and the White House that it will face consequences for the OPEC+’s production cut. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has also rejected US statements that suggest the OPEC+’s cut was anything but an economic decision.
Saudi Arabia’s statement made a point of insisting that the OPEC+ decision was taken on purely economic grounds and was adopted through consensus among member states.
By its reply Saudi Arabia is signalling that the old World Order is transiting from a unipolar system led by the United States into a multipolar one ushered by China and Saudi Arabia and that it has to adapt its policies accordingly.
Therefore, President Biden should consider his threats against Saudi Arabia very carefully before he issues them because the Saudis are capable of harming both the US financial system and the US economy far more that the US can Saudi Arabia’s.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert