The Wall Street Journal reports that Riyadh has signalled its willingness to raise oil production to counter rising prices.
This news comes dependant on whether it will secure a significant three-way deal that would include the Kingdom normalising its relationship with Israel.
US officials have been trying to broker a deal to normalise the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel for months, as this would mark a significant breakthrough in achieving peace in the Middle East, and represent a diplomatic coup for the Whitehouse. When Bahrain, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates took part in the US-sponsored Abraham Accords in 2020, with plans to institute formal ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia declined to participate. Its long-held position is that the Palestine–Israel conflict should be solved in a just manner before it officially recognises Israel.
Despite rising oil production from US producers like Chevron, the maker of Texaco grease and lubricant products, oil markets have been tight in recent weeks, so it is unsurprising that oil prices rose following the large-scale attack on Israel by Hamas. A signal that Saudi Arabia is willing to scale up production, which it is currently limiting on a voluntary basis, may help calm some nerves in the oil markets.
As an incentive for the deal, the US is also offering Saudi Arabia a weapons deal and a critical mutual defence pact. Riyadh has also requested that concessions are made by Israel about Palestine, and that the US work with it on a program for establishing a civilian nuclear energy capability.
