The United States and Britain are increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia to pump more oil and join efforts to isolate Russia. At the same time, Riyadh has shown little willingness to respond and has resurrected a threat to stop selling oil to China in dollars.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in the world’s largest crude oil exporter, a day after US Security Adviser Brett McGurk arrived with a US delegation.
Saudi Arabia and its neighbour, the United Arab Emirates, are among only a few producers with spare capacity and have resisted Western calls for more crude to cool red-hot prices by sticking to an OPEC+ supply agreement with Russia and others.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, kingdom’s de facto ruler, has come under fire from the West for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, Riyadh’s human rights record, and the Yemen war.
So far, US President Joe Biden has refused to deal directly with the prince, who is widely known as MBS.
With US-Saudi relations at an all-time low, MBS has responded by strengthening ties with Russia and China, despite the kingdom’s continued security ties with Washington.
According to two sources, McGurk and other US officials met with senior Saudi officials on Tuesday, pressing them to pump more oil and find a political solution to end the war in Yemen, where Saudi-led forces are fighting the Iran-backed Houthi group.
“You would be wrong if you believe Washington would give up on these two files. A senior US administration official spoke McGurk was in the Middle East “discussing a wide range of issues, including Yemen”, but declined to elaborate. Meanwhile, the British prime minister referred to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as “essential global partners” in the effort to wean the world off Russian hydrocarbons and put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. However, Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent Emirati political analyst, believes Johnson should not hold his breath. “Boris will return empty-handed,” he tweeted.
However, the Saudi government did not respond or comment anything on the US and British visits.
For now, Saudi Arabia has shown no sign of dumping an oil supply pact forged between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, including Russia, which has seen the group known as OPEC+ hiking oil output only gradually.
Ministers avoided the Ukraine issue in talks at the last OPEC+ meeting on March 2 – less than a week after Russia invaded Ukraine and as the West ratcheted up sanctions on Moscow – and quickly agreed to stick to existing policy.