Monitoring Desk: International media reports that the de-facto leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have declined to talk to US president Joe Biden.
This development is alarming but not unaccepted because every oil-producing country will try to get the maximum out of US/NATO- Russian standoff while the US will try to dictate to oil producers the production level and price of the oil.
Venezuela holds 299,953,000,000 barrels of proven oil reserves as of 2016, ranking 1st in the world and accounting for about 18.2% of the world’s total oil reserves of 1,650,585,140,000 barrels and the United States has failed in regime change in Venezuela although has been trying even today. The however largest producer of oil is the United States, second is Saudi Arabia and third is Russia, fourth is China, the fifth is Canada, sixth is Iraq and seventh is Iran.
Now the US and Canada are two countries of NATO that can balance oil prices by pumping extra to avoid an extreme hike in oil prices that according to Russia can hit 130 $ per barrel (crude).
If Saudi Arabia avoids following the instructions of the United States, then it would be difficult for the US to manage oil prices.
The United States wishes to linger on the Russian-Ukraine war to bleed Russia but this war will also inflict US oil consumers and European citizens if Russia stops the 40 percent of gas supply to Europe. What will first hit is yet to be determined.