RIYADH (AFP/Al Jazeera) – Saudi Arabia’s energy minister on Tuesday blasted the release of emergency oil stocks as an attempt to “manipulate markets”, the latest apparent salvo in a spat with Washington over oil production.
“People are depleting their emergency stocks, had depleted it, used it as a mechanism to manipulate markets while its profound purpose was to mitigate shortage of supply,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told an investor conference in the Saudi capital.
“However, it is my profound duty to make it clear to the world that losing emergency stock may become painful in the months to come.”
Prince Abdulaziz did not single out the U.S. in his comments about emergency stocks, but last week U.S. President Joe Biden announced he was putting the final 15 million barrels on the market from a record release of U.S. strategic reserves.
That tranche was to complete a 180 million barrel release authorized in the spring, in response to price hikes linked to Russian war on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has denied that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had privately derided United States President Joe Biden, or told aides he was unimpressed by him and favored former U.S. leader Donald Trump.
“These allegations made by anonymous sources are entirely false,” said Prince Faisal in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Monday.
The foreign minister’s defence of the crown prince, popularly known as MBS, comes as Saudi-U.S. ties have been strained after the Saudi-led OPEC+ announced a huge oil production cut earlier this month to shore up oil prices despite U.S. pressure.
Biden on October 11 warned Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, that there would be “consequences” in the wake of the production cuts that came as the world struggles to cope with high energy prices due to the war in Ukraine.
The decision by OPEC+, which includes Russia, undermines Western countries’ plans to impose a cap on the price of Russian oil in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Several Democratic leaders, who are livid with the production cut that came before the crucial midterm elections slated to be held next month, called on the White House to pressure Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates to reverse the decision.
Saudi Arabia has said that the production cut by two million barrels per day was not aimed at driving up prices. It said the move was taken to stabilize the oil market.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Saudi investment minister Khalid al-Falih said his country would “get over this recent spat” with Washington, which he said was unwarranted, adding that both countries were “solid allies” in the long term.
“On the other side, we’re very strong with our Asian partners,” he said, naming Japan and Korea and noting that China was the biggest importer of Saudi Arabia’s hydrocarbons.