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Modest hike in production will not cut U.S. gas prices
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
and Jad Mouawad
New York Times
Published on Saturday, May 17, 2008
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA: President Bush used a private visit to King Abdullah's ranch Friday to make another appeal for an increase in oil production that might give American consumers some relief at the gasoline pump.
The Saudis responded by announcing they had decided a week ago on a modest increase of 300,000 barrels a day.
On a day when oil prices rose above $127 a barrel, a record high, the White House said the Saudi production increase would not be enough to lower gasoline prices, which are nearing $4 a gallon, and industry analysts called it mostly symbolic.
But Bush's request, his second in five months, coupled with rising anti-
Saudi sentiment in the Democratic-led Congress, underscored the growing tensions between the two countries over oil.
The issue is also dominating the domestic agenda in Washington, where the Energy Department said Friday it was suspending shipments of oil to the strategic petroleum reserve.
Bush's visit was, in many respects, a reprise of a trip he made to the king's ranch in January, when he asked for an increase in production and was rebuffed publicly by the oil minister and privately by the king.
A polite concession
This time, the Saudis again resisted Bush, while also offering at least the appearance of a concession.
The Saudi oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said the kingdom had decided May 10 to increase production, not in response to Bush but because customers, mostly in the United States, had asked for it. He said that over the last few months, as supplies from other countries had declined, the Saudis had filled in the gap.
''When supplies from Venezuela and Mexico were reduced to the U.S., who supplied the difference?'' Naimi said. ''We supplied, to the tune of an additional 300,000 barrels per day, from 1.4 to 1.7 million barrels per day, for our customers in the U.S. So how much more can we do?''
Supply meeting demand
Both Naimi and Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the Saudis had held fast to their longstanding position that they were willing to pump more oil, but only if refineries wanted to buy more. Naimi said the current supply is meeting demand.
Even so, Hadley said he had a sense that officials in the kingdom were concerned about sentiment in the United States.
''They are sensitive to the economic health of their customers,'' Hadley said. ''And they are also sensitive to, and aware of, I'm sure, about the unhappiness that is generated in the United States among the American people and in the Congress about these high oil prices.''
The White House billed the visit Friday as a way to celebrate 75 years of United States-Saudi relations. But that relationship, while strong under past presidents, especially Bush's father, has grown strained under this president.
Hadley told reporters recently that ''the Iraq war was a stress'' on the relationship.
Confidence is shaken
In Washington, Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Saudi confidence in the United States has been ''extremely shaken,'' over the war as well as what Saudis perceive as Bush's lackluster effort on behalf of the rights of Palestinians.
''They'll be polite,'' Alterman said, ''but they're not really going to put themselves out to help this president.''
Still, Bush had little choice but to try.
Oil deposits stopped
In Washington, Congress voted this week to order the Bush administration to stop depositing oil in the national reserve. The White House opposed the move but then said it would comply, prompting the Energy Department's announcement Friday.
Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to use the issue to political advantage.
Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, for instance, is pressing to limit arms sales to the kingdom.
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA: President Bush used a private visit to King Abdullah's ranch Friday to make another appeal for an increase in oil production that might give American consumers some relief at the gasoline pump.
Get the full article here.
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