When OPEC+ made a surprise decision earlier this month to cut oil production, President Joe Biden responded with the political equivalent of a shrug - a far cry from his declaration that there would be “consequences” for Saudi Arabia, the de facto head of the oil cartel, when it lowered output in October.
The OPEC move could complicate Biden's efforts to tame nagging inflation and dampen gasoline prices at home, according to multiple interviews with U.S. officials and analysts. The recent U.S. banking crisis has added anotherCommodity analysts at Goldman Sachs Group increased their year-end price target for Brent crude, the global benchmark, by $5 to $95 per barrel.
Biden lifted smog-reducing rules on summer gasoline to help with prices, significantly drew down the nation’sto prop up global supplies and urged the oil industry to produce more products. Current pump prices are hovering around $3.60 a gallon - compared with $4.12 a year ago. "When I saw the OPEC headline, I fully expected a call from the administration," but it never came, a U.S. refining executive said. If prices go up, the industry is "fully expecting to once again to become the boogeyman," the executive said.U.S. gasoline inventories, a potential predictor of future market conditions, enter the spring at lower levels than last year, due in part to refinery maintenance that was delayed last year as refiners chased high margins.
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