White House worried about high oil prices; sees enough production capacity (updated)

Big Sky Industrial

02/07/2021 21:40

(New throughout, adds comments from Jen Psaki, background about
OPEC+ meeting, current oil price)
    WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The White House said on
Friday it is concerned about the impact of rising oil prices on
U.S. consumers but believes producers have ample ability to pump
enough crude.
    "Currently we believe that there is enough spare oil
production capacity globally," White House Press Secretary Jen
Psaki told reporters. "Because of the restart of (the) global
economy and resumption of normal consumer activity there is some
impact on oil market conditions," she said.
    Psaki did not answer a question about whether anyone in the
Biden administration had spoken with allies engaged in OPEC+
talks about whether to increase oil output. 
    OPEC+, a group of producers including Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates, which are OPEC members, and Russia and
other countries, extended talks on Friday about whether to ease
production cuts that had been put in place earlier in the
coronavirus pandemic.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2OE4GX 
    The UAE blocked a deal, which could delay plans to pump more
oil through the end of the year. Russia recommended delaying the
talks by one or two days, sources said late on Friday.
    U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude  CLc1  futures were up 1
cent $75.34 a barrel, having jumped 2.4% on Thursday to close at
their highest since October 2018.
    In April, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on
Twitter that she had called on Saudi Arabia to keep energy
affordable for consumers. After the call, OPEC+ agreed to
gradually ease production cuts from May. The Department of
Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
whether Granholm would repeat the call this time. 
    Psaki said President Joe Biden had opposed raising a
gasoline tax in the infrastructure bill because of concern about
consumers.  
    U.S. crude production is about 11 million barrels per day.
It peaked in January 2020 at nearly 13 million bpd.

 (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Jeff Mason and Timothy Gardner;
Editing by David Gregorio)
 ((jeff.mason@thomsonreuters.com; +1 202 898 8300; On Twitter:
@jeffmason1; Reuters Messaging:
jeff.mason.thomsonreuters.com@thomsonreuters.net))