President Joe Biden and top administration officials are seeking to downplay the decision from OPEC+ to cut daily oil production by 2 million barrels after steadily decreasing domestic gas prices boosted the president and Democrats’ electoral odds heading into the midterm elections.
The decision comes shortly after Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia, where the president met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and asked Saudi officials to ramp up production as a means of easing global energy prices amid the war in Ukraine.
Publicly, the White House is putting on a strong face in responding to the new cuts.
Biden himself told reporters Thursday that while his trip to Saudi Arabia “was not essentially for oil,” OPEC’s decision still comes as a “disappointment” and he thinks “there are problems” with the cuts.
“We are looking at alternatives,” the president added before departing heading to New York. “We haven’t made up our minds yet.”
National Economic Council Director Brian Deese similarly cautioned reporters that, despite the cuts, domestic gas prices “can and should come down more.”
“The wholesale price, the price that the gas station companies are paying for that gas, notwithstanding the fact that oil prices have come up with it, is still historically low compared to the retail price that they’re charging at the pump,” he continued. “So that’s one place where there is more opportunity.”
“In the very near term, what we believe needs to happen, consistent with market principles, is that the energy companies need to reduce retail prices to reflect the price that they’re paying for the wholesale gas,” Deese explained. “The reason why wholesale gas prices continue to be at that level is because of all of the progress that we’ve made.”
Privately, however, White House officials don’t sound so confident. MORE
“…is that the energy companies need to reduce retail prices to reflect the price that they’re paying for the wholesale gas,”
…and I’m sure their shareholders will have NO problem with those companies abandoning their fiduciary duty to them just to try to make you look good, and that people will continue the difficult and dangerous process of extracting, refining, trasporting, storing, selling, and delivering fuel for the love of Mankind and no other reason./s
always someone else’s fault with this Admin. All the moron has to do is open the pipeline and gas prices will go down faster than Kamala on a married man
Putin! Putin! Putin! Putin on the Big Lie! It’s all they’ve got until we finally buy those affordable electric vehicles and start riding subways and that high speed train from New York City to Chappaqua via Wilmington and Washington. What a conundrum! What a bottomless pit of ineptitude!
“Disappointed Biden” my ass.
Biden himself told reporters Thursday that while his trip to Saudi Arabia “was not essentially for oil,”
Well that’s a line of B.S. You didn’t go there to discuss cow farts or pronouns. You were there to beg for oil. Maybe you should have warned them that nobody F’s with a Biden.
Let me guess. The Saudis are going to soon blow up their own gas wells.
The idiots championing their “legislation wins” are too stupid to understand those”wins”are why we are in our current predicament.
Has he tried “The price of gas has not reached $10.00 a gallon under my leadership?”
It is true. At least not yet.
A new gas price message??
You mean, it wasn’t “Nobody f@&s with a biden”??
How about this message.
You can now stay at home more doing things you want to do.
Same thing for no work. Isn’t communism wonderful?
What’s that? You’re hungry? Well then get on government assistance. Come on man.