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”.
The Saudi foreign ministry release was a “total rejection” of statements issued following the OPEC+ decision of October 5 that linked the move to “the kingdom taking sides in international conflicts and that it was politically motivated against the United States of America”. The statements were also aimed at portraying the OPEC+ decision “out of its purely economic context”.
“This decision was taken unanimously by all member states of the OPEC+ group. The kingdom affirms that the outcomes of the OPEC+ meetings are adopted through consensus…and that they are not based on the unilateral decision by a single country,” the statement said.
“These outcomes are based purely on economic considerations that take into account maintaining balance of supply and demand in the oil markets, as well as aim to limit volatility that does not serve the interests of consumers and producers, as has been always the case within OPEC+.”
The US has contended the oil production cut is a “short-sighted decision” that will benefit Russia and circumvent efforts to restrict Moscow’s income from oil sales that is being used to fund the war in Ukraine. The American side is seemingly irked that the OPEC+ decision came just three months after Biden travelled to Saudi Arabia to convince Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to increase oil production to bring down soaring global energy prices, setting aside his earlier pledge to isolate the kingdom over the killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
US intelligence agencies have said MBS approved an operation against Khashoggi and Biden has said he told the crown prince he thought MBS was responsible.
The OPEC+ move could also have ramifications for a move by the US and its partners to impose a price cap on Russian oil.
The Saudi foreign ministry said that the “government of 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 Saudi government believes “any attempts to distort the facts about the kingdom’s position regarding the crisis in Ukraine are unfortunate”, and will not change its “principled position, including its vote to support UN resolutions regarding the Russian-Ukrainian crisis based on international law and the rejection of any infringement of the sovereignty of countries.
The Saudi side said it would reject “any dictates, actions, or efforts to distort” its objectives to protect the global economy from oil market volatility. Saudi Arabia views its relationship with the US as a strategic one that serves common interests, and the kingdom stressed the importance of building on the pillars of the Saudi-US relationship, including mutual respect, actively contributing to peace and security and countering terrorism and extremism.
Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan described the OPEC+ decision as purely economic and minister of state for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubair rejected suggestions that the kingdom was “weaponising oil”.
Al-Jubair said the US sale of defensive weapons to Saudi Arabia serves the interests of both countries. “Saudi Arabia doesn’t politicise oil, we don’t see oil as a weapon…Our objective is to bring stability to the oil markets and our record is very clear,” he told CNN.
Saudi Arabia is the single largest producer within the 13-member Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC), which groups 13 West Asian and African countries. OPEC+ brings these countries together with 10 other oil producing nations, including Russia. The OPEC+ cut is expected to take production down to less than 42 million barrels a day and is aimed at increasing the cost of crude, which has fallen from a peak of more than $120 a barrel in June to less than $90.
