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SANTIAGO — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington has made clear to oil producing countries the need for energy supply to meet demand after OPEC+ agreed to its deepest cuts to oil production in years.
The United States had been pushing for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, not to cut output as it tries to keep energy prices down amid the disruption of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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“What we’ve been clear about is the need for energy supply to meet demand…. When it comes to OPEC, we’ve made clear our views to OPEC members,” Blinken said at a press conference during a visit to Chile, where he was asked about the cut agreed in Vienna on Wednesday.
Washington has been working to increase energy supply and stabilize prices, raising U.S. production by more than 500,000 barrels per day and tapping strategic petroleum reserves, he said.
Asked if he was disappointed in U.S. ally and OPEC member Saudi Arabia, Blinken said Washington has a “multiplicity of interests with regard to Saudi Arabia” but did not directly address Riyadh’s decision to agree to the cut. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; additional reporting by Sarah Morland and Fabián Andrés Cambero; writing by Simon Lewis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy)