Biden to ask Gulf alliance to boost oil production – The Peninsula

Biden to ask Gulf alliance to boost oil production – The Peninsula

US President Joe Biden said he’ll ask US allies in the Persian Gulf region to boost oil production when he meets with them during a trip to Saudi Arabia next month, one of the key avenues he has to address surging inflation costs at home.

"I have indicated to them that I thought they should be increasing production,” Biden said Thursday at a news conference in Madrid following a NATO summit.

"I hope we see them in their own interest concluding that makes sense to do. And they have real concerns about about what’s going on in Iran and other places in terms of their security.”

Biden said he wouldn’t ask Saudi King Salman or Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman directly to boost energy output when he sees them at the July 16 meeting.

He said the broader Gulf Cooperation Council forum, a gathering of largely oil-rich countries along the Persian Gulf, is a more appropriate setting for that request.

"That’s not the purpose of the trip” to Saudi Arabia, Biden said.

Oil fell after Biden’s comments, with West Texas Intermediate futures sinking 2.3% to $107.31 a barrel as of 10:05 a.m. New York time.

The trip to Saudi Arabia puts Biden -- who vowed during his