Saudi Arabia Faces Consequences For Slashing Oil Output: Biden

President Joe Biden pledged on Tuesday (Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in Manila) "there will be consequences" for US relations with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced last week that it would cut its oil production target over US objections, Steve Holland reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The US accused Saudi Arabia of kowtowing to Russia, which objects to a Western cap on the price of Russian oil in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

His announcement came a day after powerful Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the US must immediately freeze all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.

Biden, in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, would not discuss what options he was considering.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said a policy review would be conducted but gave no timeline for action or information on who would lead the re-evaluation. The US will be watching the situation closely "over the coming weeks and months," she said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the OPEC+ decision was purely economic and was taken unanimously by its member states. "OPEC+ members acted responsibly and took the appropriate decision," Prince Faisal told the Al Arabiya television channel.

OPEC+, the oil producer group comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plus allies including Russia, announced the production target after weeks of lobbying by US officials against such a move.

The US accused Saudi Arabia of kowtowing to Russia, which objects to a Western cap on the price of Russian oil in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. US officials had been quietly trying to persuade its biggest Arab partner to abandon the idea of a production cut, but Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was not swayed.

Bin Salman and Biden had clashed during Biden's visit to Jeddah in July over the death in 2018 of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. US intelligence says the crown prince approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-critic, who was murdered and dismembered by Saudi agents inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.

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