Saudi Arabia and its OPEC+ allies put oil prices in the hands of U.S. President Joe Biden, rejecting his pleas for a large production hike and leaving him the choice of whether to tap the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. After a brief meeting on Thursday, the cartel approved a 400,000 barrel-a-day output hike for December. Major consumers say that’s not enough to sustain the post-Covid economic recovery, with the U.S. asking for as much as double that amount. The rejection prompted a quick response from the White House, which reiterated that it will consider “the full range of tools” to protect the economy. Crude prices erased earlier gains, falling 0.8% to $80.21 a barrel as of 1:01 p.m. in New York. “OPEC+ seems unwilling to use the capacity and power it has now at this critical moment of global recovery for countries around the world,” said a spokesperson for […]