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U.S. presses Saudis to increase oil output
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
The United States has pressed Saudi Arabia for a
significant increase in crude oil production.
Officials said President George Bush appealed to Saudi Crown Prince
Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz to increase oil output and exports in an effort to
reduce the price of oil, Middle East Newsline reported. Bush insisted that the kingdom maintained
sufficient reserve production capacity for such an effort.
"We'll talk about his country's capacity," Bush said on Monday before
meeting Abdullah at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. "It's an important
subject."
Saudi Arabia has assured the United States that it would gradually
increase output capacity from the current 9.5 million barrels of oil per day
to more than 11 million barrels per day. But the kingdom has maintained that
it did not plan an imminent increase, and no agreement was announced after
the three-hour Abdullah-Bush meeting.
"Saudi Arabia is producing all the oil that our customers are
requesting," Abdullah's adviser, Adel Al Jubeir, said.
Copyright © 2005 East West
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