U.S. President Joe Biden called on his administration and Congress to explore ways to boost U.S. energy production and reduce OPEC's control over energy prices after the cartel's "shortsighted" production cut, the White House said on Wednesday.
The Saudi Arabia-led OPEC+ cartel at a Vienna meeting on Wednesday ignored pleas from the White House to keep oil flowing and agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels per day, its deepest cuts in production since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
The move drew a sharp response from Biden that underscores the growing rift between the United States and Saudi Arabia on energy policy.
Biden warned that he will now continue to direct releases from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve "as necessary," a shift from the White House's previous comments that it would end the drawdown in the coming weeks.
