Sunday's announcement from Saudi Arabia and other major producers to cut oil production by 1.66 million barrels per day was the second such call in under a year, moves that have gone against the wishes of the White House.

But in a notable shift from the bellicose language last time around, commentary from Washington policymakers so far Monday have been much more muted.

The change in rhetoric reflects the key role the White House sees Saudi Arabia playing on the diplomatic front in the Middle East, along with the recognition that oil prices aren't nearly as crushing as before.

“This is a different situation than we had last year,” Admiral John Kirby, Biden’s National Security Council spokesman, told reporters on Monday morning.

While reiterating that the White House viewed the production cuts as “inadvisable,” Kirby added that the White House and Saudi Arabia "don't always see eye to eye on everything, but there are many things that are of mutual concern.”

‘We're just in a different place’

Last year, after furious White House lobbying, President Biden vowed that “there will be consequences” for Saudi Arabia after it announced the October decision. White House Council of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein added in a Yahoo Finance Live interview that the cut then was “a very wrong-headed decision.”

This time around, Kirby said Monday that the more muted rhetoric was largely due to the fact that we're "just in a different place in the market than we were last year.”

At the time of last year's production cuts, global prices were about $120 a barrel. On Monday, even after an overnight jump that sent West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) and Brent (BZ=F) crude futures up more than 5%, prices were at around $84 a barrel.

In a Yahoo Finance Live interview Monday, an oil analyst noted that Saudi Arabia's move is expected to push prices at the pump up some, but not necessarily through the roof — another factor likely to lessen the outrage from Washington.