Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and its allies, led by Russia, rejected calls by the United States and other oil-consuming countries to increase crude production in order to reduce prices.

After finishing a meeting Wednesday morning, OPEC+ reaffirmed its plan to boost its collective production by 400,000 barrels a day next month. President Joe Biden has repeatedly blamed OPEC+ for high oil prices, which have trickled down to cause spikes at U.S. gasoline pumps, prodding the group of oil-producing nations to ease its supply curb agreement it enacted during the pandemic more aggressively.