With international oil prices soaring, US President Joe Biden, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, will soon attend a meeting with leaders of oil-producing countries in the Middle East to call for increased oil production.

President Biden of the United States will meet with the leaders of nine countries, including the members of the GCC = Gulf Cooperation Council and Iraq, in Jeddah, western Saudi Arabia, on the 16th, the final day of a series of visits to the Middle East.



With international oil prices soaring, President Biden has decided to call on countries to increase crude oil production.



President Biden held a summit meeting with Saudi Arabia, the largest oil producer in the Middle East, the day before, but after the meeting, the Saudi Arabian government said in a statement, "The two countries have agreed to regularly exchange views on the international oil market. However, he did not mention a specific crude oil production policy.



Oil-producing countries have continued to increase production recently, but it seems that they will carefully assess demand in order to avoid a sudden drop in crude oil prices, and it is unclear whether President Biden will respond to the request for increased production.



OPEC Plus, which will be produced in major oil-producing countries including Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to discuss future production policies early next month, and the future focus will be on what kind of decisions will be made.

Saudi Arabia Emphasizes contribution to crude oil production

The Saudi Arabian government issued a statement on the 16th after King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad met with US President Joe Biden.



Regarding crude oil production, he emphasized his contribution, saying, "The US government welcomed Saudi Arabia's involvement in supporting the stability of the international crude oil market."



After that, he said, "The two countries have agreed to exchange opinions on the international crude oil market on a regular basis," and have agreed to cooperate with the United States to stabilize the energy market.



Regarding Iran, he emphasized the need for both countries to prevent Iran's interference with domestic affairs, support for terrorist acts through armed groups, and acts that undermine the security and stability of the region. It also confirmed the importance of preventing Iran from possessing nuclear weapons. ", And showed a policy of exerting pressure in cooperation with the United States.

Are Middle East and Bay Countries Careful Judgment on Increased Production?

Saudi Arabia, where President Biden of the United States urged to increase crude oil production, is the third largest in the world after the United States and Russia with daily crude oil production of 9.39 million barrels last year, according to BP, a major British oil company.



In addition, world crude oil production is concentrated in the Middle East and Gulf countries, with Iraq at 4.03 million barrels, UAE = United Arab Emirates 3.03 million barrels, and Kuwait 2.41 million barrels, where President Biden will hold a summit meeting this time. increase.



According to data compiled by international organizations, Saudi Arabia has the largest crude oil export volume in the world, which has a great impact on the international energy market.



For this reason, Saudi Arabia leads the OPEC = Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and is also a central player in the production adjustment group called "OPEC Plus", which includes non-member oil-producing countries such as Russia.



Regarding the crude oil market, it is observed that in 2020, OPEC Plus will not be able to agree on the continuation of cooperative production cuts and will be oversupplied even though demand is declining due to the stagnation of global economic activities due to the epidemic of the new corona and prices are declining. With widespread and historic price plunges, OPEC Plus has taken a significant 9.7 million barrels per day production cut to support prices.



After that, OPEC Plus gradually recovered its production volume, and it seems that it is approaching the previous production volume, and the future production policy is the focus.



President Biden would like to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries in the Middle East and the Gulf to further increase OPEC Plus production in order to reduce the soaring crude oil prices.



However, as an oil-producing country in the Middle East and the Gulf that relies on oil income, misreading demand will lead to a plunge in crude oil prices and will have a significant impact on national revenues, so it is expected that we will make a careful decision on increasing production.



In addition, there is a deep-rooted opinion that it will take years to expand production due to the lack of investment by consuming countries in the oil industry due to the movement toward a carbon-free society, and it is unclear whether the demand for increased production can be met immediately.



Furthermore, Russia, which also constitutes OPEC Plus and has the second largest crude oil production volume in the world, seems to have a desire to keep the price of crude oil, which is a source of income, as high as possible due to the impact of economic sanctions. Is difficult to realize.

Strengthening "Iran siege network"

Another aim of President Biden's visit to the Middle East is believed to be the strengthening of a "siege network" to contain Iran, which is in conflict over nuclear development.



What the United States and the destinations we visited this time, Saudi Arabia and Israel, all have in common is that they are in conflict with Iran.



Of these, Iran has been in conflict with the United States and Israel since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, calling it an "enemy country."



Although Saudi Arabia and Iran are both Islamic countries, Sunnis are the mainstream in Saudi Arabia and Shiites are the mainstream in Iran, with different denominations.



In 2016, the death penalty for Shiite leaders was executed in Saudi Arabia, followed by a large-scale protest in Iran that attacked the Saudi Arabian embassy, ​​and since then the two countries have broken diplomatic relations. ..



Although Saudi Arabia and Israel have no diplomatic relations so far, they have the same interests in being wary of the rise of Iran, and President Biden wanted to help improve relations with this visit.



In fact, the Saudi Arabian government announced on the 15th that it will allow all commercial aircraft to pass through the airspace, paving the way for Israel, which has not allowed it to pass, and the results are immediately appearing.

The movement of unity against the West

On the other hand, the Iranian side is wary of the movement of Arab countries on the opposite bank across the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, to approach Israel one after another and strengthen the "siege network".



Under these circumstances, Russia, which is subject to sanctions from the United States and other countries, is deepening its relationship, just like Iran.



President Putin is scheduled to visit Iran on the 19th next week, and the two countries are expected to avoid sanctions, strengthen economic relations, and clarify their stance against the West.



The Iranian side also denied that the United States had indicated that Iran was preparing to provide hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia, which continued its military invasion of Ukraine. He has also shown some understanding of Russia's position in the military invasion.



Now, the United States and Russia, which are in sharp conflict over the situation in Ukraine, are trying to further strengthen their ties with countries that have the same interests in the Middle East.