The U.S. does not expect Saudi Arabia to immediately increase oil production and is keeping an eye on the results of the next OPEC+ meeting on 3 August, a U.S. official told Reuters.

Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, owns most of the spare capacity within the OPEC+ group. But the kingdom has repeatedly indicated that it will not act unilaterally.

"Saudi Arabia prefers to manage the market through the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers (OPEC+), not through unilateral moves," Ben Cahill, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a recent analyst note.

"Saudi energy minister Abdulaziz bin Salman has consistently emphasized the importance of OPEC+ cohesion, including a central role for Russia," he said.

The U.S. badly wants Saudi Arabia and its OPEC partners to produce more oil to reduce the high cost of gasoline and the highest inflation in the U.S. in four decades.

Biden recently said he would not directly ask Saudi leaders to increase oil production. Instead, he will continue to insist that all Gulf countries should increase oil production.

Last month, OPEC+ decided to increase its production targets by 648,000 bpd in August, ending the record production cuts it imposed at the height of the pandemic to counter falling demand.