SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 29 March 2024, Friday |

White House welcomes OPEC+ decision to stick to planned output increase

The White House applauded top oil producers’ decision to adhere to their plans to increase crude output on Tuesday, praising “close” collaboration with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, agreed to a 400,000-barrel-per-day rise for February.

The decision not to increase output further aided the rise in oil prices. Brent crude surged 50% last year and is up 2% so far in 2022, trading 2% higher than $80 on Tuesday.

“The government is focused on ensuring that supply grows to match demand as the global economy improves and that Americans experience reduced prices at the pump – where we have seen progress in recent weeks,” said a White House National Security Council official who declined to be identified.

The OPEC+ decision, according to the spokeswoman, would help the world economy recover.

“We welcome the tight collaboration with our allies Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other OPEC+ producers in recent weeks to assist manage pricing challenges.” We applaud OPEC+’s decision to maintain output increases.”

In previous months, the Biden administration slammed OPEC+’s equivalent increases in output as inadequate, and chastised the coalition of producers for impeding the economic recovery from the crisis.

Under pressure from dramatically increased inflation on a variety of consumer items, the Biden administration also took aim at suspected price gouging by gasoline merchants and announced a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

OPEC+, which meets again on Feb. 2, agreed to decrease output by 10 million barrels per day in 2020 as demand fell.

    Source:
  • Reuters