(Bloomberg). The United States is trying to refocus its energy relations with the top Middle East OPEC nations, notably Saudi Arabia. This comes after a time of tensions between Washington and Riyadh due to high oil prices. 

Amos Hochstein is the American top energy diplomat and met with Middle East officials, including Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Energy Minister.  

“We discussed areas where the U.S. and Saudi Arabia can partner to invest in the energy transition and collaborate to build a 21st century clean energy architecture,” Hochstein said. 

The meeting comes after a difficult period in relations between the two countries that saw U.S. President Joe Biden releasing millions of barrels from his country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to push oil prices down. After the OPEC+ alliance, led by Russia and Saudi Arabia refused to raise its oil production rapidly, Washington turned on the taps. 

OPEC+ will discuss January’s production policy this week. Meetings are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Due to the effects of the reserve release and the new coronavirus variant, prices have fallen more than $15 per barrel from October’s peak. 

In the meeting between American and Saudi officials, the U.S. expressed its support for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision making and the two sides agreed to consult each other on market dynamics, according to people familiar with the discussions.

OPEC+ will decide whether it should continue with a monthly production increase of 400,000 barrels per day or if it would rather take a pause and assess the market following the effects of the virus release. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of International Energy Agency, stated that the group must continue to open the taps in order to protect the recovery. 

“The world is just recovering from the economic downturn — still this growth is fragile. High energy prices could well be a major obstacle” to a better economy by adding to inflationary pressures, Birol said. “I would be very happy” to see that OPEC+ continues to increase production at this week’s meeting, he said.

(Updates with comment from IEA’s Birol in final paragraph.)

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