A senior government claimed on Monday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is attempting to encourage Saudi Arabia to increase its oil output, following rumours that Johnson might visit the OPEC heavyweight this week.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have so far refused to use its excess output capacity to curb wild crude prices, which threaten a worldwide recession in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Saudi-Western relations are strained due to a number of human-rights issues, including the Yemen conflict and the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
According to the Times, Johnson will fly to Saudi Arabia this week to try to persuade the country’s leadership to increase output, citing sources who said he had formed solid ties with the country’s leadership.
When asked if it was appropriate to seek Saudi Arabia’s support just days after the country executed 81 men, Health Secretary Sajid Javid stated that Britain has an open relationship with the country, but it is also “important to recognise, whether we like it or not, that Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest oil producers.”
“At a time of a big global energy crisis caused by this war in Europe,” he said on Times Radio, “it is right for the prime minister and other world leaders to talk with Saudi Arabia and attempt to work together where it makes sense.”
On Monday, oil prices fell as much as $4 per barrel on hopes of diplomatic attempts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, with Brent crude futures trading at $108.92 at 0752 GMT.
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