Published:
However, the The White House emphasizes that it does not exert any pressure on American business to carry out retaliation against Saudi Arabia.
Washington plans to discourage US companies from expanding their economic activities in Saudi Arabia in response to the OPEC+’s decision to cut oil output by two million barrels a day, former and current officials familiar with the matter told NBC. However, they stressed that the final decision has not yet been made.
In addition, the Biden Administration will not send its representative to the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference. in English) which will take place next week in Riyadh. However, a high-ranking US official commented that this decision was made before the OPEC+ session. FII is held annually and this year it attracted many CEOs of North American companies.
However, the White House stresses that it does not exert any pressure on American businesses to carry out carry out retaliation against Saudi Arabia. “We do not contact companies to make such requests. As they do in all parts of the world, US companies will make their own decisions about their presence and where to invest, taking into account a range of factors, including legal restrictions, the environment business and reputational concerns that may arise from public policy decisions made by the host country,” said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the US National Security Council
The forecast is that the cooling of relations between Riyadh and Washington will last at least until December 4, when the next session of OPEC+ will be held. The meeting will take place a day before the new Western sanctions package against Russia, which includes a partial embargo on Russian oil. “This will be the key test, the OPEC meeting. The EU sanctions will come into force and a couple of million barrels they will disappear Will OPEC do anything?” said a senior Biden administration official.
Brian Katulis, an expert at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, found that The US fails to “find practical measures that can support the rhetoric of Biden”, who threatened Saudi Arabia with consequences for cutting oil production.
