US President Joe Biden is reportedly planning a presidential visit to Saudi Arabia this month, to rebuild relations with the oil-rich kingdom.
According to the New York Times, President Biden’s upcoming trip is seeking to lower oil prices, since Saudi Arabia holds the world’s second-largest proven oil producer.
This move is part of the US’ strategy to isolate Russia, another one of the world’s largest oil producers.
As reported by the Financial Times, Saudi officials were allegedly ignoring the White House’s calls to boost their oil exports. However, the group of oil-producing nations, OPEC Plus, led by Saudi Arabia agreed to a production increase in oil shipments to the West.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged the move, welcoming the OPEC decision to increase oil supply in July and August.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the European Union agreement to end most oil imports from Russia, has pushed international oil prices higher.
Biden once called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” and promised to make the Saudis “pay the price, and make them in fact the pariah that they are,” adding there was “very little social redeeming value in the present government of Saudi Arabia.”
This rupture of the relations between the two countries comes after the scandal of Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
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