Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman criticized countries' use of emergency oil reserves to manipulate prices, warning that energy markets would suffer more pain in the event of future shortages.

The comments came after President Biden signed off on the historic use of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve this year, releasing 180 million barrels of oil since April, and another release of 14 million barrels was announced this month. While the oversupply has helped curb energy inflation, it is putting pressure on oil markets, said Amrita Sen of Energy Aspects, because "that's not what reserves are for."

Emergency reserves are now shrinking, with the level of SNR oil reaching its lowest level since 1984, Forbes reported in September. Oil releases could also lead to future supply shortages, Saudi Arabia's energy chief warned.

This comes as Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries plan to cut oil production. OPEC+ announced it would cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day starting in November, despite Biden's call to increase production to lower energy prices.

But the cuts are necessary to address price distortions in the energy market, OPEC+ officials say. And despite accusations that Saudi Arabia chose to side with Putin, the nation chose to be the "more mature" side in its split with the United States, Prince added.

Other countries rallied in defense of Saudi Arabia. Turkey's foreign minister urged U.S. leaders to stop "intimidating" Saudi Arabia for cutting production, while Indonesia's finance minister said Western economic sanctions against Russia, such as a plan to cap Russian oil prices, create uncertainty for commodity exporters, Business Insider reported.