French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to dash President Joe Biden’s hope that he can sweet talk Arab nations into increasing their oil output.
Macron spoke to Biden June 27 at the G7 summit in an informal interaction that was widely shared on video, according to Newsweek.
Biden is seeking an increase in oil production to address the gas price hikes that have become a political albatross around Biden’s neck.
“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt,” Macron said.
“I had a call with MbZ,” Macron said, which has been widely interpreted to mean United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, according to the Daily Mail.
Biden was counting on Arab nations to produce more oil but a few hours ago French President Macron was overheard telling Biden that the United Arab Emirates is at max capacity & the Saudis can’t produce much more. It appears to be a direct appeal to Biden to produce more oil. pic.twitter.com/vRWJVpn3El
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) June 27, 2022
This is a game-changing revelation since Biden was counting on Saudi Arabia & UAE. They were the only two OPEC nations perceived to have spare capacity.
Macron’s revelation means that it’s up to the U.S. to produce more oil, and soon, or the energy crisis will get much worse.
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) June 27, 2022
“He told me two things,” Macron said. “One, I’m at a maximum, maximum … This is what he claims.”
“Second, the Saudis can increase a little bit, by 150 [thousands barrels per day] or a little bit more, but they don’t have huge capacities at least before six months’ time,” he said, according to Newsweek.
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