The NY Times reported that the White House believed they had struck a secret oil deal.
They were taken by surprise by Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman's reversal.
The White House was upset by the Saudi decision to cut oil production.
The New York Times reported that Biden's aides were angry when Saudi Arabia's crown prince abandoned a deal to increase oil production.
The newspaper reported that Biden aides believed they had reached an agreement with the Saudis to increase oil production.
This would have allowed the Biden White House to claim that the president's controversial visit to the kingdom in July had resulted in a significant benefit, and that it would boost Democrats ahead of the elections.
Biden had criticized the Saudis on the campaign trail, but as the war in Ukraine increased oil prices he made the trip to Jeddah over the heads of senior members of his own party.
The crown prince abandoned the deal because he didn't like Biden. Saudi Arabia's plan to cut production along with Russia and other countries pushed up oil prices.
The move has been seen by some Democrats as an attempt to meddle in the upcoming elections, and has caused acrimony between the White House and Saudi Arabia. There will be consequences for Saudi Arabia as a result of the decision, but no details have been given.
The Saudi energy ministry said that the production cut was not politically motivated and that the decision was made by the market.
A spokeswoman for the National Security Council defended the oil policies of the Biden administration.
"We have a disagreement with Saudi Arabia over the most recent production cut, but our energy policy has always focused on prices, not number of barrels, and that policy is succeeding with crude oil prices down over 30% this year alone," she said.
The White House didn't reply immediately.
Business Insider has an article on it.
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