(SitNews) Washington, D. C. - The OPEC+ group, comprised of 23 member nations, has collectively agreed to reduce their global oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day. The cuts will be made to limit global oversupply in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Saturday, U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, led a nearly two-hour call between a group of senators and Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, and Deputy Defense Minister, Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined her colleagues urging Saudi Arabia to finalize the deal to help stabilize global oil markets and reiterated that the Kingdom’s price war threatened its bilateral relationship with the US.

“While I appreciate that Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, took the time - nearly 2 hours - to update my Senate colleagues and me on the current state of play with other OPEC members, it’s important to remember that Saudi Arabia’s announcement on March 6th of massively increasing production to over 12 million barrels a day greatly exacerbated the turmoil in global energy markets, at a time when the world was dealing with the coronavirus pandemic crisis,” said Senator Sullivan.

Sullivan said, “States, like Alaska, continue to suffer from this turmoil today—tens of thousands of hard-working Americans have been laid off and independent energy companies have been forced to close up shop. While, in recent days, Saudi Arabia has been making commitments to decrease oil production and to play a constructive role in global energy markets, actions speak louder than words. The Kingdom needs to take sustainable, concrete actions to significantly cut oil production, and it needs to do so soon.”

“While we appreciate them taking the first step toward fixing the problem they created, the Saudis spent over a month waging war on American oil producers, all while our troops protected theirs. That’s not how friends treat friends,” said Senator Cramer. “Their actions were inexcusable and won’t be forgotten. Saudi Arabia’s next steps will determine whether our strategic partnership is salvageable.”

The high-ranking Saudi defense and energy officials on Saturday’s call highlight the efficacy of the legislation Senators Cramer and Sullivan introduced to remove troops from Saudi Arabia and relocate them elsewhere in the Middle East.

Also joining the call Saturday was Saudi Arabia Ambassador to the United States, Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, whom Senators Cramer and Sullivan have spoken to multiple times during this dispute. 

Joining Senators Cramer and Sullivan on their Saturday call with the Saudis were Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Cory Gardner (R-CO), John Cornyn (R-TX), John Barrassso (R-WY), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Kennedy (R-LA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and John Hoeven (R-ND).

“We again spoke with Princess Reema, the Saudi Energy Minister and Deputy Defense Minister about the importance of stopping the oil price war and providing stability in global energy markets, especially with the challenges of decreasing demand during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Senator Hoeven.

Hoeven said,  “The agreement by Saudi Arabia and Russia to stop flooding the market and to cut production is a step in the right direction. U.S. producers are driven by global market conditions, and going forward we will work to restore balance to the market and ensure these state-run oil companies are held to the agreement.  At the same time, we will continue our efforts to support U.S. oil and gas producers, including working to fund purchases of domestically-produced oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).”

And, the following day (Sunday) U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) issued statements on the United States, Russia, and Saudi Arabia striking a deal to cut oil production Sunday:

“The outlines of this unanimous agreement appear to be quite significant. Senator Cramer and I, along with several of our Senate colleagues, have been working hard for the past three weeks for this successful outcome,” said Senator Sullivan. 

Sullivan said, “I want to thank Secretary of Energy Brouillette, and especially President Trump, who was very personally engaged with world leaders over the last several days on this issue, and played the critical role in having it come together. As I’ve stated before, actions will speak louder than words on the implementation of this agreement. We will be watching this closely. It is my hope that this deal will bring much needed stability to energy markets in Alaska and throughout our country and will halt additional job losses in our oil and gas sector.”

“Thank you to President Trump and Secretary Brouillette for your strong and tireless advocacy on behalf of American oil producers, which sealed this unprecedented deal. Without it, the United States could have lost its energy dominance along with the security and thousands of good-paying jobs it brings,” said Senator Cramer. “We know this fight isn’t over. We have to make sure these countries hold up their end of the deal, and we will be watching every step of the way.”

This agreement involves 23 countries committing to collectively withhold 9.7 million barrels a day of oil from global markets.

The senators spoke with the Secretary of Energy Sunday after the deal was struck. Saturday, they led a call with Saudi defense and energy officials to highlight the importance of securing an agreement and following through on it.

Today, Sen. Murkowiski released a statement on the deal saying, "I’m glad the Saudis and Russians are taking a step back from their economic warfare against U.S. producers, and I thank President Trump and Secretary Brouillette for their leadership in reaching this agreement.”

Murkowski said, “We can further protect our energy security by refilling our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and I encourage other nations around the world to take similar steps with their own emergency stockpiles. The millions of Americans employed in this industry should know that we will continue to support them as we seek to put the pandemic behind us and ultimately bring our economy back to full strength.”

Source of News:

Office of U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan
www.sullivan.senate.gov

Office of U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski
www.murkowski.senate.go

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