Bush Urges Saudi Arabia To Boost Oil Production

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — With oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, President Bush yesterday urged oil-producing countries to raise their output, as he tried to focus his meetings with Saudi officials here on a bread-and-butter issue that ranks high with the American public.

After a week-long trip in the Middle East that has focused largely on Israeli-Palestinian Arab peace and Iran's regional ambitions, the president pivoted sharply to the rising price of oil. He said he planned to raise the subject in his conversations with Saudi King Abdullah.

"I would hope, as OPEC considers different production levels, that they understand that if ... one of their biggest consumers' economy suffers, it will mean less purchases, less oil and gas sold," Mr. Bush told reporters here, referring to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The shift from the president appeared abrupt yesterday. On Monday, his aides said they did not know whether the subject would come up in the president's talks with Abdullah. After apparently thinking about it overnight, the White House made oil a centerpiece of its public communication in the capital of the world's biggest oil producer, and Mr. Bush made clear his concern that the sharp increase in prices was a threat to the American economy. "It could cause this economy to slow down," Mr. Bush told reporters in a roundtable interview at the king's guest palace here.

He said he thought some of the fundamentals of the American economy remain strong, pointing to low inflation, while suggesting there are limits to what the Saudis or any other oil exporter can do. "There is not a lot of excess capacity in the marketplace," Mr. Bush said. "What's happened is, is that demand for energy has outstripped new supply. And that's why there's high price."

Speaking coincidentally after Mr. Bush's impromptu news conference, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi held out the possibility that his country would raise production and said the president raised valid concerns about the impact on the American economy.

"We will raise production when the market justifies it," he said.

"Presidents and kings have every right, every privilege, to comment or ask or say whatever they want," he said. "The concern for the U.S. economy is valid. But what affects the U.S. economy is more than the price of oil. We are very much concerned. We don't want to see the U.S. economy go into recession in the future."

Asked whether America would ever see a return to gasoline priced at $1 to $1.50 a gallon, he said, "If I knew that, I'd be in Las Vegas, rather than here."

Mr. Bush's comments came on a busy day that began with the president dispatching Secretary of State Rice to Baghdad for an unannounced visit with Prime Minister al-Maliki. Mr. Bush said the visit was secretly planned about 10 days ago and was aimed at keeping the momentum going in what he asserted were encouraging signs of political progress in Iraq. Mr. Bush also spent the morning visiting a palace here that now serves as the museum of national history. He later traveled to the estate near Riyadh that the king uses to entertain favored guests and raises Arabian stallions.

During his roundtable with reporters, the president also discussed the recent incident in the Persian Gulf in which Iranian speedboats allegedly harassed American Navy ships.

He said he was not sure whether the incident was directed by officials in the Iranian president's office or Revolutionary Guard units.

"It's not going to matter to me one way or the other if they hit our ships, and the Iranian government has got to understand that," he said. "This is serious business. We lost lives when one of those boats loaded with explosives attacked us — called the USS Cole." Mr. Bush also addressed the recent National Intelligence Estimate that concluded that Iran halted a nuclear weapons program in 2003.

The estimate concerned many of the countries that Mr. Bush is visiting on his trip, and Mr. Bush said he spent a "fair amount" of time discussing Iran with his counterparts.