As gas prices soar across the United States, a small team of President Joe Biden's energy and national security officials are making a diplomatic effort to ramp up global oil production, a new report reveals.
Although the United States' relationship with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been relatively strained since Biden took office, CNN reports that they are two key components of the effort.
On Wednesday, March 9, Yousef Al Otaiba, who serves as the UAE's ambassador to Washington, spoke with CNN where he weighed in saying, "that the country wants to increase oil production and will encourage OPEC to ramp up its supply. The comments came after weeks of public messaging from OPEC that the cartel would not be raising its production and triggered the largest single-day decline in oil prices in almost two years."
In the White House, officials have reportedly noted that it does appear discussions are finally moving in the right direction. CNN has also shed light on the diplomatic discussions taking place in hopes of increasing global oil production.
Per CNN:
"Biden officials held diplomatic talks in oil-rich Venezuela this month, though the administration has since downplayed the notion of any production increases from the heavily sanctioned country. The potential for a looming nuclear deal with Iran could eventually unleash a wave of sanctioned Iranian oil back onto the market, but it's not viewed as a near term solution inside the White House."
However, the spare oil United States energy officials have been focused on is located in the Middle East. Officials believe the fastest way to push more oil into the market is by way of production in Saudi Arabia. However, CNN has noted that a number of things must happen for this to be successful.
"US officials are aware they have to address what has been a severely strained relationship between President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of the kingdom who is colloquially known as MBS. Since the early days of the Biden administration, the Saudis have felt personally slighted by what they say has been the President's decision to calibrate the entire relationship around the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashogg."
An official with knowledge of the situation told CNN, "It is hard to get to a better place without dealing with MBS. There is no other way to do it."