In a seeming snub to the Biden White House, OPEC+ decided to stay the course at their monthly meeting last Thursday, choosing to ramp up production by a modest 400,000 barrels per day through December, half of what the White House had demanded.

At the meeting, OPEC+ reiterated its commitment to maintaining a "stable and balanced oil market," even as the price of Brent crude continues to flirt with $90 a barrel.

Last Tuesday, President Joe Biden said rising gas prices are "a consequence of, thus far, the refusal of Russia or the OPEC nations to pump more oil."

OPEC+ meanwhile pointed to volatility in other energy markets like natural gas as a reason for rising crude prices. "Oil is not the problem," said Saudi oil minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, noting a graph showing a five-fold increase in European natural gas prices compared to a three-fold increase in oil prices since March.

Prince Salman's implication is that "OPEC+ is managing oil better than other sources of energy, so don't be critical of us," Bhushan Bahree, executive director at IHS Markit, told The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak defended OPEC+'s decision, pointing to decreased fuel consumption in Europe last month as evidence that oil demand is still under pressure from the pandemic. Thus, a strategy of "gradual increase is the right one," he said.

The Biden Administration has floated tapping into the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to stop up rising gas prices. But such a move would "only fill the gap during temporary production disruptions and not fix structural issues of underinvestment and rising demand," UBS Group strategist Giovanni Staunovo told Bloomberg.

Indeed, talks in Glasgow among world leaders about the transition to a clean energy future somewhat overshadowed OPEC+'s discussions. There is likely a mounting frustration among OPEC+ members "at being asked to supply more barrels by Western leaders who are also calling for a rapid transition to renewables and an end to the age of oil," wrote Helima Croft, head of commodities research at RBC Capital Markets, in a note to clients.

With the writing seemingly on the wall for oil, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Co likely want to take advantage of high crude prices while they still have the chance.

Oil's uncertain future also makes it hard for OPEC+ and even U.S. producers to justify investments that might lead to increased production." Who is going to invest for three years and four years," said Prince Salman concerning shifting energy policies across the globe.

With the oil business seemingly dying but demand for it continually rising, supply will likely have a hard time keeping up even as the world transitions to a future free of fossil fuels.

"If you cut off supply faster than demand moves away from fossil fuels, you are going to get high and volatile prices," Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at Energy Aspects, told the New York Times.