Biden says US has tools to respond to OPEC+ oil withholding

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden said on Saturday his administration has ways to deal with high oil prices after OPEC and its allies rejected US pleas for producers to pump more crude.

“There are other instruments in the arsenal that we need to deal with other countries at an opportune time,” Biden said when asked by a reporter in the White House whether he would authorize a sale of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

OPEC+, a group of producers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and other countries, on Thursday rejected US pleas to go beyond an earlier plan to increase oil production by 400,000 barrels per day from December.

The oil price has reached $80 a barrel, pushing fuel prices up for consumers.

“I don’t expect OPEC to respond, Russia and/or Saudi Arabia to respond,” Biden said. “They’re going to pump some more oil. Whether they pump enough oil is another story.”

Biden said his administration will discuss the matter. “We can get more energy in the pipeline figuratively and literally,” he said.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm has said the Energy Information Administration predicts gasoline prices will fall to $3.05 a gallon in December, which is likely not the level the strategic reserve would come into play, she said. . But the predictions could change, she said.

Granholm said Biden would make any decisions about tapping the reserve, which is being held in a series of caves on the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.

Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Grant McCool

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