As the ever-increasing list of reasons for things to get more and more expensive gets more and more things added to it, Saudi Arabia claims that they will not be a part of that list. It’s not that they are going to do anything to help lower the oil prices, nor will they offer to meet and find solutions. Instead, they just want to ensure they aren’t being blamed.
In a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry to the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom “declares that it will not bear any responsibility for any shortage in oil supplies to global markets in light of the attacks on its oil facilities… The international community must assume its responsibility to preserve energy supplies.” This statement goes hand in hand with what OPEC and other oil-producing countries say as their deal to limit production increases. This is despite Biden’s pleas for more crude production in response to the embargo on Russian oil.
As gas prices continue to soar across the U.S., there has only been minimal relief at the pump so far. While below the $140 new benchmark hit earlier in March, the $112 a barrel price on the 21st is still $15 a barrel more than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This current price reflects a 4% increase over the last close.
Meanwhile, Biden has done little to change the production levels of oil in the U.S. The killed projects, ceased leases, and increases in bureaucratic red tape since he took office have gutted the American oil industry. Before he arrived in Washington as the President, the U.S. had become an oil-exporting country for the first time in decades. Gas and energy prices as a whole were much lower.
In true leftist fashion, Biden along with his gang of flunkies came soaring out of the left like it was their life’s mission to kill the U.S. with all these new policies and ideas. The sweeping strokes of his pen and their emboldened mindset set the U.S. back years and put us at the mercy of places like Saudi Arabia and Russia when it comes to oil for our energy. With people like Pete Buttigieg telling people to get a Tesla if they don’t like the gas prices, this administration is incredibly blind to what the people need.
Truthfully, the Saudis are right to claim they are above blame here. They could flood the market and drive pricing down, but that would only lead to further instability. Especially as others would just bow out of the market until prices were restored. The same as what happened when the Saudis and Russia got into it about exporting oil. Now as we need to do something to increase our oil availability, we lack the resources ourselves, and Saudi Arabia and other nations won’t increase output to fix a problem we could fix ourselves.
Now as Iranian-backed rebels from Yemen attack the Saudi oil production facilities, the situation becomes even tenser. With missiles and rockets flying in, the residents’ lives are left in terror as the nation faces their first tests on their increased national security following similar attacks back in 2019. In striking contrast, when these attacks were carried out, the Saudis did nothing to refuse blame for oil prices. They merely acknowledged the drop in production but promised to work diligently to get back to full production ASAP.
There are a few differences between September 2019 and now. There was no invasion of Ukraine, no ban on oil for Russia, and the U.S. was pumping a reliable level of gas. There was no idea a pandemic was on the way, or how it would impact us. Now, we have Biden in office, some of the lowest oil production ever, and a pandemic we are surging back from. This caused a massive increase in demand for oil, and not enough producers to meet the demand.
