U.S. Sends Delegation To Saudi Arabia To Discuss Energy And Security

White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa and the U.S. Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security visited Saudi Arabia officials on Friday to discuss regional security and energy matters.

It is the senior-most U.S. delegation to visit Saudi Arabia since the latter announced a large crude oil production cut in the Fall of last year.

White House Coordinator Brett McGurk and Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein visited with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud—topics thought to be under discussion are the conflict in Yemen, Saudi-Iran relations, and energy.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States have been tense over the last couple of years after the U.S. withdrew its support for the Saudi-led offensive in the Yemen conflict and the murder of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi’s murder saw relations quickly deteriorate between HRH Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and U.S. President Joe Biden—the latter who was sharp in his criticism of MbS while on the campaign trail and throughout his presidency over the Crown Prince’s human rights records. President Biden even refused to speak with the defacto ruler of Saudi Arabia, instead speaking only to King Salman.

But energy concerns prompted the U.S. President to change strategies when Saudi Arabia and the UAE refused to increase crude oil production to bring down prices.

On Friday, the senior U.S. delegation did in fact meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss ending the war in Yemen, according to a White House National Security Council Spokesperson who spoke to Axios.

The United States also discussed energy security and clean energy cooperation, among other topics.

The Biden Administration is likely feeling the pinch of OPEC+’s latest surprise oil production cut announced a week ago by an additional 1.6 million barrels per day. Biden has publicly shrugged off the surprise production cut, but the timing of the delegation to Saudi Arabia follows by just a week.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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