the Biden administration has asked Tokyo, Delhi and… Beijing to draw on their reserves – RT en français | Breaking News Updates

Having failed to convince OPEC to increase its production to lower prices, Washington is said to have tried to coordinate with several countries, including China, the use of reserves for the same purpose. Without success.

Reuters says the White House has called on some major oil-consuming countries, including China, India and Japan, to consider drawing on their crude reserves as part of a coordinated move to to lower energy prices.

The unusual request came as Joe Biden faces political pressure in the United States over general price hikes, including those for fuel at the pump.

It also reflects Washington’s frustration with members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies within the so-called “OPEC +” group, who have rejected its repeated demands to accelerate the increase in oil prices. their production.

According to one of the sources quoted by Reuters, the stake is that the principal world consumers of oil get together to send OPEC a message indicating that it must “change its behavior”.

The agency says that over the past few weeks, Joe Biden and his top advisers have discussed the possibility of a coordinated release of oil reserves with allies including Japan, South Korea and India, as well as ‘with China.

The United States and its allies have already taken such steps in the past, for example in 2011 during the military intervention in Libya. But the current proposal takes a new turn since it involves China, the world’s largest importer of crude, and whose diplomatic relations with the United States remain strained.

According to a representative of the Japanese Ministry of Industry quoted by Reuters, Washington has asked for Tokyo’s cooperation in tackling soaring oil prices, but has not confirmed that the request is part of a coordinated move to unblock it. reserves. He said, however, that Japanese law prohibited the government from using its reserves in order to influence prices.

Only in case of “imbalance in supply”

In Seoul, an official confirmed that the United States had called for the release of part of South Korea’s oil reserves and also replied that it was not customary to dip into reserves to counter rising oil prices. price. He added that it was only possible “in the event of an imbalance in supply”.

According to an American source who participated in the discussions, the United States would have to release more than 20 million barrels of oil to have an impact on the markets.

Quoting “several people familiar with the matter”, this source concludes that the negotiations were unsuccessful and did not lead to any concerted alternative solution to counter the rise in oil prices. The White House refused to Reuters to comment on the content of its exchanges with the countries mentioned.

OPEC and its allies including Russia, united in OPEC +, confirmed earlier in the month their long-planned decision to increase production by 400,000 barrels per day, but refused access to the Washington asks to go further.