Oil cuts spur US rethink on Middle East partner

The White House is reevaluating the United States' relationship with Saudi Arabia after a grouping of oil producers centered on OPEC announced it would cut production, with politicians lining up to denounce the kingdom. The change in attitude toward Saudi Arabia is viewed as having the potential to shift the political dynamic in the Middle East.

John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council at the White House, said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden believes "it's time to take another look at this relationship and make sure that it's serving our national security interests".

The administration has described as "shortsighted" the production cuts announced by OPEC+, which brings together the nations in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with other oil producers such as Russia.

Amid rising anger in Washington toward Riyadh, a news report said that US officials had asked Saudi Arabia — OPEC's most influential member — to hold off on the cuts until after the US midterm congressional elections on Nov 8.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that officials, who were not identified, asked the Saudis to delay the 2 million-barrel-a-day production cut for another month, citing people familiar with the situation.

But Saudi officials dismissed the requests, "which they viewed as a political gambit by the Biden administration to avoid bad news ahead of the US midterm elections", the newspaper reported.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the OPEC+ decision to cut production was purely economic and was taken unanimously by its member states.

'Responsible action'

"OPEC+ members acted responsibly and took the appropriate decision," Prince Faisal told the Al Arabiya television channel.

Biden had reluctantly made a controversial trip to Jeddah to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in July, when they shared a much-scrutinized fist bump.

But the trip did not result in increased oil production and sparked criticism of the White House aides that had pushed for the Biden visit.

"President Biden has been getting bad advice on Middle East policy for a long time, and this OPEC decision is really a predictable failure of his trip to the region this summer," a Democratic House Foreign Affairs Committee aide told The Intercept website.

Jimmy Carter lost the White House to Ronald Reagan in a 1980 election when Carter was hampered by rising oil prices and long lines at US pumps as a result of the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the subsequent hostage crisis.

In an opinion article on Oct 5, the Journal's editorial board said: "The Biden White House has tried every gimmick to lower gas prices other than the one that would really matter: Call off its political and regulatory campaign against American oil and gas production.

"But the administration won't do it because it is too afraid of, or shares the beliefs of, the climate left that wants to ban fossil fuels. That's the definition of 'shortsighted'."

The OPEC+ countries, led by Russia, are not formal members of OPEC, but they have worked in tandem with the original cartel. Considering the US' massive aid packages to Ukraine in its military conflict with Russia, coupled with Western economic sanctions against Moscow, the OPEC+ move was viewed by the US as the Saudis siding with Russia.

On Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was good that such "balanced, thoughtful and planned work of the countries that take a responsible position within OPEC is opposed to the actions of the US", Al Jazeera reported. "This at least balances the mayhem that the Americans are causing."

With the mood turning against the Saudis in Congress, members have called for punitive measures against Riyadh, including a halt to US arms sales to Riyadh.

The White House did say, however, that its weapon sales to Riyadh serve as a counterweight in the region to US adversary Iran.

Agencies contributed to this story.