U.S. Looks To Punish Saudi Arabia For Large OPEC+ Cut

Despite repeated pleas from the U.S. that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), under the de facto leadership of Saudi Arabia, should not cut its collective crude oil production at its meeting last week it did just that. The White House had made it clear that a cut in crude oil production and the corollary rise in oil prices would lead to three outcomes that it sees as exceptionally dangerous for the world right now. First, it would add further impetus to the energy price-led surge in global inflation that has prompted rising…