President Joe Biden looked intensely frustrated. Inflation was approaching toward a 30-year high and Americans, rich and poor, could see the cost of gasoline running up almost everyday. Politically, oil was noxious to the White House.
“The idea that Russia, Saudi Arabia and other major producers will not pump more oil so that people can have gasoline to get to and from work, for example, is not correct,” Biden said in late October.
First privately and then more publicly, US envoys had spent weeks trying to convince the Saudis to pump more crude, and quickly, according to officials on both sides. Diplomatic oppression was eventually directed at a 36-year-old man who can change the price of oil, and the fortunes of politicians in consuming nations, on a whim: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
But the kingdom’s day-to-day ruler did not budge despite hints from American diplomats. Prince Mohammed was more concerned with oil supply and demand fundamentals than with Washington’s political needs. But if Biden needed cheaper gasoline, the prince had his own wish list, including something he has yet to get from the current White House: access.
Since taking office, Biden has only spoken to King Salman, Prince Mohammed’s father, and refused to deal directly with the crown prince, who is still considered an outcast in the United States after the Washington columnist’s murder. Post Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
“There are a lot of people from the Middle East who want to talk to me,” Biden stated in October, outwardly directly identifying Prince Mohammed. “I’m not sure I’m going to talk to them.”
Sequentially, Biden did not get the additional oil he wanted, forcing him to respond on Tuesday by tapping into the country’s strategic oil reserve, a decision that risks further escalation of the Saudi-led OPEC + cartel.
For Prince Mohammed, who sits atop what is sometimes described as the central oil bank, high oil prices give him the confidence to demand the attention of Biden and everyone else. The cash inflow also supports his plan to make the kingdom a global investment powerhouse by the $450 billion Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund that he also chairs and wants to increase to $ 1 trillion by 2025.
