Biden says he won’t ask Saudi Arabia to increase oil production

President Biden on Thursday said he won’t ask Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to increase oil production during his visit to the Middle East next month.

“No, I’m not going to ask them. I’m going to ask— all the Gulf States are meeting. I’ve indicated to them that I thought they should be increasing oil production generically, not to the Saudis particularly. And I think, I hope, we see them in their own interest concluding that makes sense to do,” Biden said at a press conference in Spain.

He said that increasing oil production is not the purpose of his trip to Saudi Arabia. His visit is part of a larger trip to the Middle East from July 13 to 16, which includes travel to Israel and the West Bank and Jeddah for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

“It’s in Saudi Arabia, but it’s not about Saudi Arabia,” he said. “It’s in Saudi Arabia.”

“I guess I will see the king and the crown prince, but that’s not the meeting I’m going to. They’ll be part of a much larger meeting,” he added.

Experts have said that it’s not guaranteed that lower gasoline prices would come out of Biden convincing the Kingdom to stabilize global oil markets. Saudi Arabia is the world’s second-largest oil producer and unofficial head of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Biden’s upcoming meeting with the crown prince has drawn scrutiny from human rights advocates and marks a stark reversal from Biden’s promise on the campaign trail to make the kingdom a “pariah” over the killing of the dissident Saudi writer and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.