Opinion | What OPEC’s latest move means for Biden and Putin – By Joel Mathis (The Week) / Oct 7, 2022
The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web
Gas prices are probably going to start rising again. OPEC and some of its fellow oil-producing countries in the expanded alliance known as OPEC+ — a group that includes Russia — this week announced they will be cutting oil production by 2 million barrels a day starting in November, part of “a bid to raise prices,” The New York Times reports. That won’t just affect drivers. The move should also undercut moves to deprive Russia of oil revenues as it conducts its war against Ukraine. Other possibilities: Europe may be driven into recession. And Democrats may falter in the November midterm elections if rising prices anger voters.
OPEC’s move has sparked a backlash against one of the alliance’s most powerful members, Saudi Arabia. U.S. leaders have long courted the kingdom’s leaders. Perhaps no more. “From unanswered questions about 9/11 & the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, to conspiring w/ [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to punish the US w/ higher oil prices, the royal Saudi family has never been a trustworthy ally of our nation,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) tweeted on Thursday. “It’s time for our foreign policy to imagine a world without their alliance.” How will OPEC’s action affect American politics — and what does it mean for the future of the Middle East?
DOMESTIC ENERGY POLICY NEEDS A BIG REVAMP
“In all its history, OPEC — and its new incarnation, the OPEC+ alliance — has never curbed output so much, and so quickly,” Javier Blas writes for Bloomberg. There will be two major consequences of this act. First, rising oil prices “will keep inflation elevated for longer” which in turn means the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates which in turn means the American economy is more likely to face recession. Second, “it channels more money to the Kremlin” and lets it keep alive the war against Ukraine.” It’s also not a good look for American power, because the production cut “signals that Riyadh is in the Russian camp, willing to publicly snub Washington.” That means it is time to boost every domestic means of energy production — oil and gas, yes, but also nuclear, wind, and solar. The lesson we should have learned by now? “Energy security is as important today as it was nearly half-century ago when the Arab oil embargo started. But security starts at home.”
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