Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images; Hasan Bratic/picture alliance via Getty Images
- The White House has given up asking Saudi Arabia to produce more oil, the WSJ reported.
- The US has tried to get more Saudi oil since it banned Russian energy imports over the Ukraine war.
- US-Saudi relations are currently at a new low.
The White House has given up asking Saudi Arabia to pump more oil after being repeatedly rebuffed by the kingdom, The Wall Street Journal reported, the latest sign of a growing rift between the two nations.
The US banned imports of Russian oil and gas after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, sending prices at the pump soaring. In turn, the US turned to Saudi Arabia to boost production and drive down prices.
But the Saudis declined, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — the kingdom's de facto ruler — reportedly ignoring President Joe Biden's phone calls. Saudi Arabia and Russia are key members of the OPEC+ oil producers alliance, which decided on a tiny increase in production in late March, despite global price rises.
A senior US official told The Journal that, after abandoning its efforts to get Saudi Arabia to up oil production, the US instead started asking the Saudis not do anything that would hurt the West's efforts in Ukraine.
The Journal report did not give further details, but Saudi Arabia is one of a number of nations who have not condemned Putin's invasion of Ukraine, with Crown Prince Mohammed recently offering to mediate peace talks.
The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Saudi Arabia's decision to avoid angering Russia instead of letting down the US is significant, and exemplifies the growing rift between Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed.
A longstanding alliance is being tested
The US-Saudi relationship has long been underpinned by the exchange of US arms and security guarantees for access to Saudi oil. But that relationship is being tested.
Saudi Arabia is upset with Biden's sidelining of Crown Prince Mohammed, Biden's hardline rhetoric on the country's human-rights records, and the US failure to guarantee its security following a string of attacks on the Arabian Peninsula led by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In a clear show of US intentions to improve relations, the US hurriedly sent additional Patriot antimissile interceptors to Saudi Arabia last month, just as the effects of the Russia oil crisis began to bite, The Journal previously reported.
More than a year into his presidency, Biden has yet to meet Saudi King Salman or Crown Prince Mohammed in an official capacity.
After the CIA concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed likely ordered the murder of the writer Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, the White House effectively demoted Crown Prince Mohammed to defense minister, one of the titles he holds, and marked his father King Salman as Biden's equal.
In turn, Crown Prince Mohammed made clear his disdain for the Biden administration in an interview with The Atlantic magazine published last month, saying he didn't care what the US president thought of him.
Shortly after Biden became president, Crown Prince Mohammed also reportedly yelled at White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan after the latter brought up Khashoggi during an informal meeting, The Journal reported.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/tfzPWjv
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