As officials from the group of oil-producing nations known as OPEC Plus meet on Thursday, Saudi Arabia may seek a larger increase in production for July than the 430,000 barrels a day agreed in recent months.

Energy Aspects, a research firm, said in a note to clients that the Saudi proposal could be to double the planned increase.

Whether the producers group, which includes Russia, will agree to a larger increase is unclear. Reports of the potential move have somewhat dampened surging oil prices. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was down about 1 percent on Thursday to near $115 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, was down a similar amount, to about $114 a barrel.

The Saudis are trying to improve their relationship with the Biden administration, which wants to prevent soaring oil prices from alienating American voters in midterm elections and damaging the economies of the United States and other countries. But Riyadh also does not want to break its five-year alliance on oil matters with Moscow, which is a co-leader of OPEC Plus.

Russian production has fallen by around 1 million barrels a day, or about 10 percent, since the invasion of Ukraine because of Western sanctions and wariness by some buyers of handling Russian oil. Further decreases in Russian output are expected as recent measures by the European Union to stop most Russian oil purchases take effect.