Rabat – Saudi Arabia announced it will be boosting oil production, following US President Joe Biden’s visit and meeting with the Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
During a speech made at a summit with Arab leaders, bin Salman announced that his country has agreed to boost production by 1 million barrels each day, with a goal of reaching 13 million barrels per day.
“The kingdom has announced an increase in its production capacity level to 13 million barrels per day, after which the kingdom will not have any additional capacity to increase production,” said the Saudi crown prince.
Saudi Arabia previously had plans to up its production to that amount by the year 2027, but Prince bin Salman cited an effort to support the global economy by boosting production, during a time where the Russia Ukraine war has caused an energy crisis around the world.
The Saudi move is expected to help stabilize energy and fuel prices as supply grows, and alleviate some of the pains that a fuel shortage has brought upon some countries and sectors.
Prince bin Salman added that unrealistic policies to reduce emissions by excluding “main sources of energy” such as fossil fuels can lead to inflation, an increase in energy prices, as well as higher unemployment.
He said that the COVID-19 crisis and the world’s geopolitical situation required joint efforts to support the global economy, and that the transition to renewables has to be “realistic and reasonable.”
US officials had said before that Biden would discuss energy security with leaders of Gulf states while in Jeddah, hoping for more action by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to boost output.
Reuters reported however that the American officials said they were not expecting an immediate increase in oil output from the country.
Joe Biden’s visit to Jeddah concluded his first trip to the Middle East as US President, with his first stop being Israel.
With Biden having previously called Saudi Arabia a “pariah state” for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, many saw this visit as a bid to improve relations with the world’s top oil producer.
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