Russia-Ukraine war: US reaches out to oil suppliers to counter Putin's threat

For the Biden administration, the US overtures to three problematic oil giants at best could lead to stabilizing rising oil and gas prices and draw those governments closer to the West and away from Russia and China.

Three checkered oil regimes that American President Joe Biden and past US leaders have spectacularly snubbed — Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran — are now targets of US outreach as global fuel prices reach jarring levels during the Ukraine crisis.

But it's not clear any US diplomacy could get more crude oil on the market fast enough to help the current supply crunch or tear once-shunned oil states away from what — for Saudi Arabia in particular — are profitable alliances with Russia.

For the Biden administration, the US overtures to three problematic oil giants at best could lead to stabilizing rising oil and gas prices and draw those governments closer to the West and away from Russia and China. At worst, Biden risks humiliating rebuffs and condemnation for outreach to governments accused of rights abuses and violence.

"We have an interest globally in maintaining a... steady supply of energy, including through diplomatic effort," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday on the moves toward countries that have been out of US or Biden administration favour, and in the case of Iran an armed threat.

"We have a multiplicity of interests, and use diplomacy to try to advance them," Blinken said.

The phrasing, as Russia's war raises the stakes in many areas, was a marked change from Biden's praise at the outset of his presidency of democratic values as "America's abiding advantage" in diplomacy.

Saudi Arabia has profited richly in the past couple of years from teaming with fellow top petroleum producer Russia to keep global oil and natural gas supply modest and prices high.