There may be a pattern here.
OPEC and its oil-producing partners have rebuffed President Joe Biden’s calls for increased production amidst rising fuel prices, retorting that if the United States believes the world’s economy needs more energy, then it has the capability to increase production itself. The OPEC+ alliance, made up of OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia and non-member top producers guided by Russia, approved an increase in production of 400,000 barrels per day for the month of December.
The Guardian (August 3, 2022):
The Opec cartel and its allies have agreed to increase the production of crude by just 100,000 barrels a day, in what analysts have described as an insult directed at the US president, Joe Biden.
Ministers from the 13-member group and its allies, led by Russia and known as Opec+, met on Thursday at a closed-door video meeting and rubber-stamped an increase in output that is the equivalent of 86 seconds, or 0.1%, of global oil demand.
The minuscule boost from September is understood to be seen as a snub to Biden, who visited influential Opec member Saudi Arabia last month to encourage the Gulf state to increase output to assist the ailing global economy.
But that insult, it seems, was not enough.
The New York Times (September 5, 2022):
Officials of OPEC and its major allies agreed on Monday to modestly cut oil production by 100,000 barrels a day, rolling back the increase they approved a month ago.
The trim is so small — about a tenth of a percent of world output — that it will have little practical impact on supplies. But it appears intended to show that OPEC Plus is determined to defend a price level of around $100 a barrel.
While, as the Times reporter goes on to explain, the link between the quotas and what is actually produced is currently none too close (in July, production fell about 3 million barrels short of the target, partly — but only partly — because of the effect of sanctions on Russia), the symbolism of the gesture is clear, and this is an extra twist:
Saudi Arabia is also sending a signal to the Biden administration that the kingdom is prepared to take steps, like cutting production, that might pre-empt the downward pressure on oil prices from a nuclear deal with Iran.