Biden says there will be 'consequences' for Saudi Arabia over OPEC+ decision
US President Joe Biden says there will be "consequences" for Saudi Arabia following a recent decision by the OPEC+, in which Riyadh is a top producer, to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day over Washington's objections.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Biden said he would soon take unspecified action and that OPEC+ had "aligned" with Russia to slash output.
"There's going to be some consequences for what they've done with Russia," he said. "I'm not going to get into what I'd consider and what I have in mind. But there will be consequences."
The remarks came after Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States must immediately freeze all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales to the country.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said a policy review would be conducted with regards to relations with Saudi Arabia but gave no timeline for action or information on who would lead the re-evaluation. The United States will be watching the situation closely "over the coming weeks and months," she said.
Earlier in the day, the White House said that Biden was re-evaluating the US's relationship with Saudi Arabia in light of the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production.
Last week, OPEC+ approved its deepest cuts to the production of oil since 2020 at a meeting in the Austrian capital, Vienna, curbing supply in an already tight market despite pressure from the United States and others to pump more. The 2-million-barrel cut per day is equal to 2 percent of global supply.
The United States had pushed OPEC not to proceed with the cuts. And earlier, during a visit to Saudi Arabia, Biden had reportedly asked for an increase in production to alleviate an energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
Observers believe the Biden administration is worried that the decision to cut oil production will cause a gas price hike in the US ahead of the November midterm elections.
The decision also humiliated Biden, who, on his trip to Saudi Arabia in July, attempted to appease Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman despite a CIA conclusion that he had personally ordered the murder of dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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