Biden to visit Saudi in June, to meet crown Prince amid staggering oil price hike: Report

US President Joe Biden is expected to take a trip to Saudi Arabia in June, a source close to the plans told the Associated Press. Biden will meet Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who he once shunned as a "pariah" after the brutal killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The visit comes at a time when Washington is looking for strategic ties to secure oil supply to the global markets in order to provide some relief to consumers amid the skyrocketing fuel prices in the country following sanctions on Russia.

As per NBC reports, Biden will make a short stop in Saudi Arabia in late June and meet the future ruler of the kingdom and repair the tattered ties. Just to note, as a presidential candidate, Biden has vowed to slap a "pariah" status on the future Arabian king and his family over the assassination of Khashoggi. The US-based journalist was a strong critic of MBS.

Biden will also meet the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)- including Saudi Arabia to expand on Donald Trump administration's progress in nurturing the fledgling ties between Israel and the Arab Gulf States. Person close to the White House also informed AP news that Biden is considering taking Saudis as a candidate for securing oil supplies amid tight supply-chain hindrances that have skyrocketed the global oil prices to sky levels.

'Realpolitik victory'

However, the White House has refused to divulge details about the trip publicly. Although, Biden's spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that the US President will in fact visit Israel following his visit to Europe toward the end of June. Foreign policy experts, cited by the New York Times, described the upcoming trip as a "realpolitik victory" over moral outrage, as Biden found it necessary to court alternate energy producers to replace supply from Russia to global markets.

OPEC to increase output 'modestly' by July

The OPEC countries on Thursday agreed to increase their production output by July as calls for help to the alliance increased amid burgeoning global oil prices. During the 29th OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting the leaders decided to advance production by 648,000 barrels per day in July, Xinhua News Agency reported. In a statement released by the OPEC leaders after the meeting, they highlighted the importance of "stable and balanced markets for both crude and refined products." However, American experts, quoted by NY Post, underscored that the increase in production may not be enough to pull down the oil prices before November.

(Image: AP)