Looking out for America: WSJ reports that Biden officials begged Saudis to delay OPEC+ output cutbacks until after the midterms

Joe challenged the princes to do push-ups with him. TD

  Thomas Lifson  

Caricature by Donkey Hotey CC BY-SA 2.0 license

. . .Days before a major oil-production cut by OPEC and its Russia-led allies, U.S. officials called their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and other big Gulf producers with an urgent appeal—delay the decision for another month, according to people familiar with the talks. The answer: a resounding no.

U.S. officials warned Saudi leaders that a cut would be viewed as a clear choice by Riyadh to side with Russia in the Ukraine war and that the move would weaken already-waning support in Washington for the kingdom, the people said.

Saudi officials dismissed the requests, which they viewed as a political gambit by the Biden administration to avoid bad news ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, on which control of Congress hangs. High gas prices and inflation have been central issues in the campaign.

Instead, the people said, the kingdom leaned on its OPEC allies to approve the cut, which is aimed at reducing production by 2 million barrels a day. . . .

But can the Saudis stand up to the power

 of US Democrats?