Amos Hochstein, the White House senior adviser on energy security, said on Wednesday that the OPEC+ decision to slightly increase oil production by 100,000 barrels per day after US President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia last month "will not significantly affect prices for Americans." ". "Well, no," Hochstein said, when asked by CNN Newsroom's Jim Sioto, whether the move had a significant impact. Amos Hochstein said in a previous interview with CNN on July 19 that he was "absolutely confident that OPEC + will move to increase oil production as a result of the President (Joe Biden) talks." Other senior US officials, including the White House Strategic Communications Coordinator, John Kirby, expressed similar optimism, telling MSNBC last month: "There were no planned or anticipated announcements as a result of this visit but as you heard the president say after his meeting with the crown prince and officials The Saudis, he is optimistic that in two or three weeks, there may be some future announcements of additional oil production from the region... It's an OPEC decision. It's not just something the Saudis do unilaterally, there's an OPEC meeting here in two weeks, We look forward to seeing what they come up with.” But Amos Hochstein said, on Wednesday, that OPEC + "moved a step in the right direction," and added: "Our main focus is not on the number of barrels, but our main focus is on reducing prices, this is what President (Biden) tells us, and I think we are in It is a decent situation, and we will continue to work to reduce it." Asked if Biden was disappointed that the increase approved by OPEC + was not greater, Hochstein declined to comment. “What we are focusing on is keeping prices low, we wanted to see some increases in production before we announced the flight, we saw that, a big increase in July and August this is a smaller increase, but an increase nonetheless, but I think we are We focus more on the bottom line and this reduces the price of oil in the market." He noted that Wednesday is the 50th consecutive day of low fuel prices, noting that the average is now less than $4 a gallon for "most Americans." He stated, "This is absolutely fantastic and it follows some of the steps we've taken to try and stabilize the oil and gasoline markets, bring those prices down, and I have to tell you, the president doesn't feel like he's down enough so we're going to keep working." Coming under pressure from Sioto on whether consumers should prepare for the possibility of higher prices in the fall, Amos Hochstein declined to respond, but suggested that Europe set a cap on the amount of Russian oil being imported, which he said would "allow the markets to continue to operate in a stable manner, But make sure that Russian President Vladimir Putin has fewer dollars to carry out his war."

CNN