US President Joe Biden will push his case for more oil production from OPEC countries to lower petrol prices when he meets with Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia this week, he said yesterday. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Biden leaves tonight for his first visit as president to the Middle East, which includes visits to Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Saudi Arabia.
This visit is taking place as the American president is fighting a battle inside the US to reduce gasoline prices, which are negatively affecting Biden’s progress in the polls.
Sullivan said OPEC members have the ability to take “bigger steps” to increase oil production, despite statements from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates about limited capacity to increase oil production.
“We will convey our overall view … that we believe there must be the necessary supply in the global market in order to protect the global economy and protect the American consumer at the pump,” Sullivan added.
Experts say the White House understands that Saudi Arabia is unlikely to act unilaterally and that Riyadh and other Gulf countries lack significant oil spare capacity.
“I think an increase in oil production from Saudi Arabia is not likely. I expect some painless comments from Saudi Arabia about helping balance the global oil market in order to serve global demand, support economic growth and stability among oil-importing countries,” according to Bill Cahill, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The visit comes as the US president faces criticism from rights groups over plans to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, for who the US intelligence community concluded was behind the 2018 assassination of Washington Post reporter and political opponent Jamal Khashoggi.
In comments published in the same newspaper on Saturday, Biden explained that the goal of his visit is to redefine bilateral relations, not to break with a country that has been a strategic ally for the US for 80 years.
Sullivan, briefing reporters at the White House, said Biden has no regrets about an earlier report in which he called Saudi Arabia an “outcast” over Khashoggi’s death.
However, he said one of Biden’s goals for the visit will be to “both publicly and personally support global values, including progress in human rights and political reform.”
The issue of Iran is also expected to be discussed during the visit, in a region concerned about Tehran’s influence. Sullivan said Iran is preparing to provide Russia with several hundred drones, some of which are weapons suitable for use in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Sullivan said the US has information indicating that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces in the use of these drones.
Source: RES-MPE
Source: Capital
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