Saudi Arabia does not politicize oil and the shortage is not related to the fundamentals of crude oil supply and demand, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said on Friday.

Speaking to Fox News, Al-Jubeir refuted the idea that Saudi Arabia would do this [oil cut production] to harm the US.

“Oil is not a weapon,” Al-Jubeir said. “It’s not a fighter plane. It’s not a tank. You can’t shoot it. You can’t do anything with it. We look at oil as a commodity and we look at oil as important to the global economy in which we have a huge stake.”

“The idea that Saudi Arabia would do this to harm the US or to be in any way politically involved is absolutely not correct at all,” he added.

“With due respect, the reason you have high prices in the United States is because you have a refining shortage that has been in existence for more than 20 years,” Al-Jubeir said. “You haven’t built refineries in decades.”

Al-Jubeir streessed that the Kingdom is committed to ensuring stability in the oil markets to the benefit of consumers and producers.\