Opec+ cut shows widening gulf between Biden and Saudis

The Opec+ organisation’s decision this week to cut oil production despite stiff US opposition has further strained already tense relations between President Joe Biden’s White House and the Saudi Arabia’s royal family, once one of Washington’s staunchest Middle East allies, according to interviews with about a dozen government officials and experts in Washington and the Gulf. The White House pushed hard to prevent the Opec output cut, these sources said. Biden hopes to keep US petrol prices from spiking again ahead of midterm elections in which his Democratic party is struggling to maintain control of the US Congress. Washington also wants to limit Russia’s energy revenue during the Ukraine war. The US administration lobbied Opec+ for weeks. In recent days, senior US officials from energy, foreign policy and economic teams urged their foreign counterparts to vote against an output cut, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. Amos Hochstein, Biden’s top energy envoy, along with national security official Brett McGurk and the administrations special envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking, travelled to Saudi Arabia last month to discuss energy issues, including the Opec+ decision.