White House Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby has told reporters that "other OPEC nations told the US privately they felt coerced by Saudi Arabia to support production cuts."
- According to Reuters, the US also told Saudi Arabia they should wait until next OPEC meeting to see how thing developed.
- Kirby says that the "US showed analysis to Saudi Arabia showing there was no market basis to cut oil production."
- Kirby's comments are latest in an increasingly bitter diplomatic standoff between Washington and Riyadh. The White House will launch a review of the US-Saudi bilateral relationship when Congress returns next month.
- Saudi officials maintain that the cuts were designed to get ahead of a predicted demand slump, pointing at a tepid market reaction as approval of the production cut.
- Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has called for a freeze in the US-Saudi relationship and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have unveiled legislation to halt weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
- Blumenthal said: "The only apparent purpose of this cut in oil supply is to help the Russians and harm Americans. […] Now, we need to rebalance our relationship.”