The White House is allegedly panicking over OPEC's last-minute decision to cut its oil production.
CNN’s Senior National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt reported that an insider at the White House told the network that the Biden administration “desperately” does not want OPEC to cut its oil production.
“Cutting oil production means higher oil prices, it means higher gas prices. That, of course, is something that the Biden administration does not want to happen right now,” Marquardt said.
With just five weeks away from the November midterm elections, the Biden administration is facing mounting pressure to combat the already-high gas prices that have shot up once again in the past month.
“[The White House] says that this would be a ‘total disaster[,]’ it would be seen as a ‘hostile act’ against the United States. This is very blunt language. The White House says that these were draft talking points and not used. But it does give insight into how nervous they are,” Marquardt claimed.
President Joe Biden is allegedly engaging in a “furious, last-ditch, wide-scale effort” to rail against a potential production cut.
In an attempt to persuade OPEC from cutting its oil, the top Biden administration official for energy is reaching out to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates to halt the oil company’s last-minute decision.
In response, Biden said that he would release 10 million barrels of oil from the U.S.’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve next month to counter-attack the high fuel prices.
This comes as OPEC announced it would cut oil production by at least 2 million barrels a day, which would drive prices up around the world.
Americans are already feeling the pain at the pump and the stores as inflation is making large dents in their wallets. If gas prices go up, even more, the U.S. is looking at a long-haul recovery from the recession it is in.