White House welcomes OPEC+ decision to stick to planned output increase

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The White House yesteday welcomed a decision by top oil producers to stick with their plans to raise crude production and touted “close” coordination with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier yesterday, a group of producers comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia stuck to a planned increase of 400,000 barrels per day for February.

The decision not to hike output even more helped lift oil prices further. Brent crude rose 50% last year and has rallied so far in 2022, trading 2% up above $80 on Tuesday.

“The administration is focused on making sure supply rises to match demand as the global economy recovers and that Americans see lower prices at the pump - where we have seen progress in recent weeks,” said a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council who declined to be named.

The spokesperson added that the OPEC+ decision would support the global economic recovery.

“We appreciate the close coordination over the recent weeks with our partners Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other OPEC+ producers to help address price pressures. We welcome OPEC+ decision to continue increases in production.”

In prior months, the Biden administration blasted identical increases in production by OPEC+ as insufficient, and criticized the group of producers for hobbling the economic recovery from the recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Biden administration, under pressure due to sharply higher inflation on a range of consumer goods, also took aim at possible price gouging by gasoline sellers and announced a release from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

OPEC+, which next meets on Feb. 2, sharply cut 10 million barrels per day in production during 2020 as demand tumbled.