KSA responds to US criticism of OPEC+ cuts: "We don't use oil as a weapon"

Riyadh: According to a statement from the foreign ministry, Saudi Arabia has informed the US that delaying the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners to decrease output would have been bad for the entire globe.

On October 5, the OPEC+ group decided to reduce output by 2 million barrels per day.

Joe Biden, the US president, called the decision "shortsighted" and promised "there will be consequences" for Saudi-US relations without specifying what his administration intends to do. Biden is trying to prevent Russia from profiting from energy sales to stop Russia's war in Ukraine, Arab News reported.

In response, the Saudi Foreign Ministry stated that assertions that the Kingdom was supporting the cutbacks for political purposes against the US or was siding with one side in international disputes were unfounded and took out the OPEC+ decision from its economic context.

"The Kingdom clarified through its continuous consultation with the US Administration that all economic analyses indicate that postponing the OPEC+ decision for a month, according to what has been suggested, would have had negative economic consequences," the statement said.

The Kingdom also rejected criticisms made in response to the OPEC+ decision to reduce oil production last week.

Saudi Arabia rejected any attempts to deviate from the goal of safeguarding the global economy from fluctuations in the oil market, according to the ministry statement, which stated that the agreement between OPEC+ nations was unanimous and sought to balance supply and demand to help curb market volatility.

In an interview with CNN, Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi Arabian minister of state for foreign affairs, adopted a confident tone saying, "Saudi Arabia does not politicise oil. We don't see oil as a weapon. We see oil as our commodity. Our objective is to bring stability to the oil market. And our record is very clear on this not over the past few weeks but over the past decades."

He said that the two countries shared "permanent" objectives, like combating extremism and terrorism, in regard to the effect the dispute is having on relations between Saudi Arabia and the US.

"I don't believe this relationship is broken, very far from it, this relationship is very robust," he said, adding: "We have almost 80,000 Americans living and working in Saudi Arabia, we have a very strong trade and investment relationship."

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman also took to the airwaves and told Bloomberg: "Our current priority is stability in the market in terms of demand and investment.

The Saudi foreign ministry statement, citing an unnamed official, said: "Resolving economic challenges requires the establishment of a non-politicized constructive dialogue, and to wisely and rationally consider what serves the interests of all countries. The Kingdom affirms that it views its relationship with the US as a strategic one that serves the common interests of both countries."

The US position is "directly influenced by the status of the refining sector in the US," which is characterised by ageing refineries and a lack of varied sources of heavy and medium crude benchmarks, according to Abdulaziz Al-Moqbel, a consultant and expert in energy markets, who spoke to Arab News.

He added: "The global economy has been battered by a series of macro events such as the trade war between the largest two economies followed by a pandemic and last but not least the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

"Any disruption in the oil markets could cause yet another economic distress. The OPEC+ decision aims to be proactive and preemptive to avoid any consequences of yet another global economic crisis."

Nayef Falah Al Hajraf, the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, supported Saudi Arabia.

Al Hajraf "expressed full solidarity" with the Kingdom, according to a statement posted on his website, and added that statements denouncing Saudi Arabia "lack facts."

He went on to praise "the important and pivotal role played by the Kingdom at the regional and international levels in the field of mutual respect between countries", as well as "the Kingdom's commitment not to compromise the sovereignty of states, protecting the global economy from fluctuations in energy prices and ensuring its supplies according to a balanced policy that takes into account the interests of the producing and consuming countries."

Ahead of the elections in November, US Democrats have attacked Saudi Arabia in light of the effects of rising gas prices, with some even calling for an end to the two countries' long-standing defence collaboration.

On Wednesday, the national average for gasoline was $3.92 a gallon.

Mike Pompeo, a former US secretary of state, attributed the present energy crisis to Biden.

"This is a failure of American policy. Joe Biden is directly responsible for the place that the world finds itself on energy."

The progressive left, he continued, has spent 25 years believing that they are "going to run the world on sunshine and windmills."

In addition to not constructing new refineries, Pompeo claimed that the present administration's approach to achieving US energy independence is flawed.

"We shut down a pipeline, we've made it hard to permit, we've got ESG rules that now deny the capacity to get American energy out of American ground for American consumers."

"We have the capacity for self-help here in the US," Pompeo told Fox News Sunday.

"To point the finger at someone else, at OPEC or at the Saudis, is an enormous mistake when America has the capacity to produce energy independence for its own country and, frankly, provide energy for the world as well."