US Officials Secretly Meet with Saudi Arabia on Oil Production Deal
Top US officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein have arrived in Saudi Arabia for secret talks with senior government officials. The White House Middle East coordinator and State Department's energy envoy are meeting to discuss a potential deal between Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Egypt to boost oil production.
The negotiations come ahead of President Joe Biden's planned visit to the Middle East at the end of June, which includes a stop in Saudi Arabia. Biden has repeatedly urged OPEC producers, including Saudi Arabia, to increase output to lower crude prices and provide additional market supply.
However, OPEC has not responded to these demands and plans to stick with its gradual production scheme. The Biden Administration is pressuring Saudi Arabia for more production to bring down gas prices ahead of the midterm elections and to impose sanctions on Russian oil amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.