Pakistan backs Saudi Arabia over OPEC rift with US

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday backed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which invited the Biden administration’s wrath in the wake of OPEC’s decision to cut oil supply in the international market.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, which lead the OPEC + cartel, recently decided to cut crude oil supply by 2 million barrels a day in order to avoid a plunge in the oil prices in the international markets because of fear of global economic recession. The decision has angered Washington.

The Foreign Office issued a statement saying, “We acknowledge the concerns of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for avoiding market instability and safeguarding global economic stability.”

Pakistan, it continued, supports a solution-focused strategy for dealing with these problems that is built on cooperation and respect.

We declare again how strong and enduring our links are to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The United States had accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia during the Ukraine conflict by reducing oil production to raise crude prices, but Saudi Arabia had before insisted that its actions were simply commercial.

“We are astonished by the accusations that the kingdom is standing with Russia in its war with Ukraine,” the Saudi defense minister, Prince Khaled bin Salman, tweeted late Sunday.

“It is telling that these false accusations did not come from the Ukrainian government,” Prince Khaled wrote. “Although the OPEC+ decision, which was taken unanimously, was due to purely economic reasons, some accused the kingdom of standing with Russia.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden pledged on October 13 that “there will be consequences” for US relations with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced last week that it would cut oil production over US objections.

Biden wanted Saudi Arabia to increase the oil supply in order to lower the prices at home ahead of the crucial midterm elections. The Saudi crown prince instead backed a move to cut oil supplies.

He made his remark the day after influential Democratic Senator and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez demanded that the US immediately halt all engagement with Saudi Arabia, including military sales.

In a conversation with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Biden stated he would not reveal the choices he was thinking about.

“I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be — there will be consequences,” he said.