U.S. President Joe Biden expressed disappointment after the major oil producers announced their decision to cut production. The White House issued a statement saying that the U.S. Department of Energy will continue its plan to release a total of 180 million barrels of strategic oil reserves, releasing another 10 million barrels of strategic oil reserves to the market next month.

　　Before that, the U.S. government had been pressuring the governments of major oil-producing countries to dissuade them from cutting production, CNN reported on May 5. But the reality is that such efforts have failed.

　　Citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, the report said the Biden administration has launched a "comprehensive pressure campaign" over the past few weeks, sending a host of senior energy, economic and foreign policy officials to engage with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries to lobby them to vote against production cuts.

　　In draft talking points obtained by CNN and distributed by the White House to the U.S. Treasury Department, the officials were asked to tell Middle Eastern oil producers that a production cut would lead to a "serious catastrophe" and would even be considered a "hostile act.

　　Amos Hochstein, the State Department's senior energy security adviser, played a leading role, according to the report. Late last month, he traveled to the Saudi port city of Jeddah with Brett McGurk, the Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the U.S. National Security Council, and Tim Lundgren, the U.S. special envoy for Yemen, to discuss a range of energy and security issues.

　　At the same time, the White House also asked Treasury Secretary Yellen to personally brief finance ministers of Gulf countries, including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. According to the report, the White House's draft talking points suggested that Yellen convey to the finance ministers of other countries that "your reputation and your relationship in the eyes of the United States and the West will be at great political risk if production cuts continue."

　　U.S. media: U.S.-Saudi relations take another step farther

　　However, such efforts have not had much effect.

　　An article in the U.S. New York Times on the 5th pointed out that this decision by the major oil-producing countries exposed the failure of U.S. diplomacy. In particular, the article pointed out that in July this year, U.S. President Joe Biden went to Saudi Arabia in order to increase oil production, but Saudi Arabia ignored U.S. pressure and supported oil production cuts, which marked another step in the strategic relationship between the two countries.

　　AFP commented that the U.S. side said it was "disappointed" by the decision to cut production, but it was clearly more than just "disappointed", which was a major blow to the U.S. Biden administration's efforts to stabilize oil prices before the midterm elections.