Saudi Arabia said Thursday that the United States had asked it to delay a decision by the OPEC+ group, which includes Russia, to cut global oil production for a month, the Associated Press reported.

“The kingdom’s government has clarified during ongoing consultations with the US administration that all economic analyzes indicate that delaying the OPEC+ decision by one month, as proposed, would have negative economic consequences,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday. affairs of Riyadh. .

While he did not directly mention next month’s US midterm elections as a reason for the Biden administration’s request, it has not gone unnoticed by analysts.

Despite the pressure from the United States, on October 5 in Vienna, the OPEC+ group decided on the largest reduction in world oil production in the last 2 years.

Delaying the decision by a month would mean it would be too late to have a significant impact on gas prices ahead of the Nov. 8 U.S. midterm elections, in which Biden’s Democratic Party will try to hold on to its fragile majority in Washington’s Congress.

Rising oil prices fuel inflation in the US

Rising global oil prices, and thus fuel prices, have been one of the main factors contributing to historic inflation in the United States, the European Union and other parts of the world, compounding and exacerbating the economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. war on the part of Ukraine, unleashed by Vladimir Putin at the end of February.

The White House rejected any attempt to link the appeal to Saudi Arabia to the upcoming US congressional elections, but the fact that Riyadh issued a press release on the subject shows how strained relations between Washington and Er- Riyadh its traditional ally in the Persian Gulf region.

The press release, issued by Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry, came just two days after White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Biden was reviewing US relations with Riyadh in light of the OPEC decision.

On Monday, Bob Menendez, the Democrat who chairs the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for a freeze on diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and a block on all arms exports to Riyadh, accusing the Saudi kingdom of playing games with Moscow.

Despite the fact that the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada have imposed embargoes or restrictions on the import of Russian oil, Russia has managed to obtain significant revenues from its exports thanks to rising prices.

Joe Biden’s defeat before the US elections

OPEC’s decision is a personal diplomatic defeat for Joe Biden, who made an official visit to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in July specifically to ask Riyadh to put more oil on the market.

He also met with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, thus becoming the first major head of state to agree to meet with him since the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been considered one of the United States’ closest allies in the Middle East since the end of World War II, and the ruling Saudi dynasty at the time and in subsequent decades was concerned about the spread of communism in the region.

Saudi Arabia is also one of the most important customers of American arms companies.