On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” White House NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby defended President Biden’s Saudi trip as “not about oil.” And reacted to announced production cuts by OPEC+ by stating that OPEC+ has been overstating their production, so the decrease gets them “more in line with actual production.”
Co-host Bill Hemmer asked, “It’s been two-and-a-half months…since President Biden went to Riyadh. Was that trip a waste of time?”
Kirby responded, “Absolutely not, Bill. Look, we said at the time, even before he left, that the trip was not about oil. It was about much larger national strategic and national interest goals throughout the region, to try to foster a more integrated cooperative region. Now, look, we said that we would welcome an increase in production. And there was a small increase in production after that trip. And now, they’re adjusting back their numbers down a little bit here. OPEC+ has been saying and telling the world they’re actually producing three-and-a-half million more barrels than they actually are. So, in some ways, this announced decrease really just kind of gets them back into — more in line with actual production. We haven’t also haven’t seen — and I recognize it just got announced — we haven’t seen any dramatic shifts in the price of oil. It’s still coming in around $90 a barrel. So, we’re going to have to see how this plays out over the long term.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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