Saudi Arabia on Thursday rejected insinuations that the OPEC+ move to reduce oil supplies was influenced by the kingdom’s stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and said the decision was made unanimously by the 23-member group solely on the basis of economic considerations.
The usually reticent foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia issued a detailed defence of the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by two million barrels per day from November in the face of a strong reaction from the US administration, with President Joe Biden vowing there would be consequences for US-Saudi ties. Leading US lawmakers such as Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have called for an immediate freeze on all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.
The Saudi foreign ministry suggested in its statement the US administration had sought the postponing of the OPEC+ decision for a month, but said the kingdom made it clear to the American side during consultations that such a measure “would have had negative economic consequences”.
