Staff Reports
The 15 members of OPEC and the Russian-led allies of the group voted on Wednesday to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day, even though the White House had asked the group to pump more oil.
Bloomberg said that OPEC and its allies, which are led by Russia, will cut crude oil production because they are worried that less oil will be needed if the world goes into a recession. CNN reported on Wednesday that top aides to President Joe Biden have been trying to get OPEC to vote against cutting production because the White House would see this as a "hostile act."
CNN says that the administration was "panicking" about the possibility that OPEC would cut production because it was worried that gas prices would keep going up and hurt the Democrats' chances in the midterm elections in November. The White House tried hard to get Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other OPEC members to vote against cutting oil production. However, its efforts failed because OPEC+ wants to keep oil prices stable by reducing global supply before winter.
The benchmark price for Brent crude oil went up to $93 a barrel on Wednesday. In March, it was over $120 a barrel. A rise in the price of oil could make fuel shortages in the West even worse, which is already driving up the prices of electricity and gas for homes.
The Washington Post says that OPEC+ agreed to a small increase in oil production in August after Vice President Biden went to Saudi Arabia and asked an OPEC member there to pump more oil. When Biden asked OPEC's Middle Eastern members to make more oil in May, he was also turned down.
The Daily Caller News Foundation asked OPEC and the White House for a comment, but neither of them replied right away.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on WND.
