Biden attended a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Jeddah.
(Photo: Reuters)
Jeddah In discussions about a stronger expansion of global oil production, Saudi Arabia wants to increase its possible production capacity by one million barrels per day. The maximum possible amount should be increased from the current 12 to 13 million barrels, announced the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit by US President Joe Biden to Jeddah on Saturday. In addition, the kingdom has run out of extra capacity to further increase production, he said. However, the crown prince did not make any promises that he would actually produce more oil.
Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed attended a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Jeddah – along with the other oil heavyweights Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. In a joint statement the previous evening, the USA and Saudi Arabia had already spoken of Saudi Arabia’s obligation to work towards “balancing global oil markets”.
The increase in production capacity should be a positive signal to Biden. A few months before the important congressional elections in the USA, this is under pressure due to the sharp increase in gasoline prices. A higher offer would indirectly help to dampen fuel prices.
The oil alliance Opec+ decides on actual oil production volumes. Saudi Arabia’s production target for August is just over 11 million barrels per day, according to the group. However, the country only reached this level for a few months in 2018 and 2020. According to the Saudi state-owned company Saudi Aramco, it can extract around 12 million barrels of oil from the ground every day.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
More: A fist salute with the prince: Joe Biden in Saudi Arabia