Draghi floats creation of oil consumer ‘cartel’ after meeting with Biden

Draghi floats creation of oil consumer ‘cartel’ after meeting with Biden

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi has floated the creation of a “cartel” of oil consumers, following a meeting with US president Joe Biden that included talks on revamping energy markets triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday in Washington, Draghi said he and Biden shared a “dissatisfaction” with the structure of global energy markets and had discussed the “general concept” of capping prices of both oil and gas.

The Italian prime minister and the US president met at the White House on Tuesday in order to continue co-ordinating their positions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the economic fallout from the conflict.

“We are both dissatisfied with the way things work, in terms of oil for the US and in terms of gas for Europe,” Draghi said. “Prices don’t have any relationship with supply and demand.”

Italy’s prime minister said Rome’s priority would be to cap gas prices to “reduce the financial help we are giving to Putin to continue the war” and make use of Europe’s “market power”. He acknowledged that even within the EU, support for such a measure was “not unanimous” and it was unclear whether such a plan would be approved.

But Draghi, who formerly served as