US President Joe Biden’s visit in recent days to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia ended without any announcements that the kingdom would raise oil production to help lower fuel prices which are spurring the highest US inflation in four decades. Top US energy envoy Amos Hochstein told a television programme on Sunday that major producers with spare capacity are likely to raise output in the coming weeks, based on discussions held during Biden’s visit. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that unrealistic emission policies would lead to unprecedented levels of inflation, calling for increasing investments in fossil fuels and clean energy technologies alike. Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said that OPEC+ would continue to assess market conditions and do what is necessary. With OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, unwinding record output cuts agreed in 2020, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are believed to hold OPEC and the world’s only sizeable amounts of unused production capacity. OPEC’s oil capacity in general has been thinned by a number of factors, including periods of low oil prices amid a global surplus in 2014-2016 and a drop in drilling rates due to the COVID pandemic in 2020.