Cheney had one talking point for meeting with Saudi king: Oil
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
ABU DHABI — The United States has concluded another high-level effort to persuade Saudi Arabia to increase crude oil production.
U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney was said to have urged Saudi King Abdullah to increase Riyad's crude oil output. Officials said Cheney stressed the damage to the U.S. economy from skyrocketing gasoline prices.
"The conversation focused on one issue: the need for an immediate increase in Saudi production," a U.S. diplomatic source said.
On Saturday, Cheney and Abdullah met for more than four hours in a discussion of the Iranian threat, Arab-Israeli peace efforts and energy prices. The vice president, on a 10-day regional tour, also met Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Nueimi on Saudi production capacity.
"They will review a broad agenda of diplomatic and security issues as well as where we are now in the global energy market," Cheney's national security adviser, John Hannah, said before the vice president's arrival in Riyad on March 21. "And I am sure they will talk about the need for a cooperative way forward to try and stabilize this market, reduce volatility in the market and serve the interests of both consumers and producers alike."
Officials said the Bush administration was concerned over OPEC's decision to reject an oil production increase. They said Riyad could be doing more to influence the oil cartel or unilaterally raise production levels.
Later, Cheney aides acknowledged that his discussions with the king focused on the need to stop rising oil prices. But they refused to say whether Abdullah issued any commitment to increase production.
"They discussed the the way forward, how we work together to try to stabilize the market and what can be done and what could be done shorter term, but probably more about what's necessary to do over the medium and longer term," an official who was traveling with Cheney said. "I can't tell you much about the conversations themselves, these are especially confidential and private conversations. They have a lot of important implications, I think, as we sort of work together going forward on a number of problems."
Officials said Cheney reiterated a U.S. pledge to establish a Palestinian state within a year. Hours later, the vice president arrived in Israel where he met Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Cheney was also scheduled to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
"America's committed to moving the process forward," Cheney said in Israel. "It is not America's role to dictate the outcome."