Bush Asks Saudis To Increase Oil Production
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - President Bush is appealing to oil-rich Saudi Arabia to increase production just as oil prices have hit another record high.
As U.S. consumers cope with rising prices at the gas pump, Bush is on a one-day visit to Saudi Arabia for another burst of diplomacy King Abdullah.
When the two met here in mid-January, the president asked Saudi Arabia to raise production to ease high prices at the pump. Bush got a chilly response to his plea. The kingdom said it would increase production only when the market justified it, and that production levels appeared normal.
Oil prices climbed to a new high Friday, above $127 a barrel. At the pump, gas prices rose to a national average of $3.78 per gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
When Air Force One landed in the Saudi capital on Friday, the president got a red carpet welcome on the tarmac and was warmly greeted by Saudi leaders as a military band played the U.S. national anthem, slightly off-key.
Bush was spending the day with Abdullah at his horse farm outside Riyadh, talking mostly out of public view over three tea services and two meals.
The White House says the president’s visit is intended, in part, to celebrate 75 years of formal U.S.-Saudi relations. It will mark the conclusion of several agreements, laying out intentions to cooperate on nuclear energy, infrastructure protection and nonproliferation. But the rising price of oil undoubtedly will overshadow the talks.
Bush acknowledges that raising output is difficult because the demand for oil—particularly from China and India—is stretching supplies. Besides, any production hike might not lower prices that much. Some economists say those prices are being driven up by increased demand, not slowed production.
When Bush first ran for president in 2000, he criticized the Clinton administration for high fuel prices and said the president must “jawbone” oil producing nations and persuade them to drop rates. At that time, oil was nearing $28 a barrel.
Bush’s visit to Saudi Arabia, which has the world’s largest supply of oil, comes two days after Congress voted to temporarily halt daily shipments of 70,000 barrels of oil to the nation’s emergency reserve. Bush has refused to stop pouring oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying the stockpile was meant for emergencies and that halting the shipments would have little or no impact on gasoline or crude oil prices.
It’s a move that Democrats have sought for the past year to increase supply and apply downward pressure on prices. With an eye to the November election, the Senate sent the measure to the president Wednesday night without a single GOP objection. The White House has indicated that Bush will sign the reserve measure.
Also, as Bush prepared to leave Washington, Senate Democrats introduced a resolution that would block $1.4 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia unless Riyadh agrees to increase its oil production by 1 million barrels per day. The Democrats said they introduced the measure to coincide with Bush’s trip to send a message to Saudi Arabia that it should pump more oil to reduce the cost of gas for Americans.
High energy costs are a major drain on the U.S. economy, which is experiencing a slowdown that some think is already a recession. Oil prices are nearly $125 a barrel and gasoline threatens to go to $4 a gallon this summer.
Anthony Cordesman, a security analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Abdullah may produce something “simply because it’s good manners,” but nothing that would have a significant effect.
“U.S. influence over OPEC and Gulf oil production is diminished,” he said. “It’s not clear what the incentive is to Saudi Arabia. We can’t deliver on (Mideast) peace. We can’t deliver on arms transfers. We can’t deliver on the Iraq that Saudi Arabia wants. We are raising problems in terms of Iran. And the reality is the market isn’t being driven by us; it’s being driven by China, by India, by rising Asian demand.”
Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS’ Middle East program, said the Saudis, with a public that doesn’t like Bush and a ruling monarchy with growing interests elsewhere, are not likely “to put themselves out to help this president.”
“The Saudis don’t have an alternative to keeping the U.S. in its corner, but their reliance on the United States, their confidence in the United States is extremely shaken,” Alterman said.
Besides wanting to discuss oil, Bush is paying his second visit to Abdullah this year—on top of a stop by Vice President Dick Cheney in Saudi Arabia in March—to talk about his goal of achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before he leaves office. Saudi Arabia’s immense power in the region means that its backing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and any concessions he will have to make is key.
The Saudi-American relationship began in the 1940s with a simple bargain: Saudi Arabia offered oil in return for U.S. protection. The United States became the kingdom’s biggest trading partner and the Saudis became the biggest buyers of U.S. weapons. Many Saudis sent their children to American schools.
But over the years, issues arose.
Saudis, like other Arabs, feel Washington leans unfairly to Israel’s side in the dispute with the Palestinians.
And Saudi-U.S. ties took their hardest hit after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which 15 the 19 airline hijackers were Saudis. Americans blamed Saudis for allowing the religious extremism that gave rise to the hijackers. Though anti-terror cooperation has been relatively strong since, Saudis still smart from what they feel are unfair accusations.
(AP)
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Something that our “smarter than you” MSM has NOT provided lately is a reasonable explanation for why gas prices are so high. Not that I’d be so foolish as to expect them to do any actual journalism, but a guy can hope.
My suspicion is that the Saudis and others are ramping up the price of gas ahead of the US elections in the hope of getting a flaccid democrat in office. They’d certainly like to see the current, democratic Iraqi government go away. This shit happened before the last election too, just not to such an extent.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:00 amMiddle Easterners have been going after each other for incidents 500 to 1000 years ago, and they think we’re out of line for the highjackers of 2001 leaving us with a bitter taste.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:11 amSupposedly big ass Texas oil man, cowboy hat in hand, groveling to a bunch of ragheads. ——disgusting.
Drill the USA
May 16th, 2008 at 7:20 amThis is a dog an pony show. The Kingdoms oil production dropped in 2006 from 9.5 million barrels a day to about 8.5 million barrels today. Saudi Arabia has the largest known reserves in the world.
The Kingdoms oil output has peaked and is on decline. They offer lip service that they want to preserve oil wealth for future generations but the truth is they are running out. They have been pumping sweet crude for over 50 years now. They don’t disclose what their reserves are and their top production was in the late 70’s for a brief time when they were outputting 10 million bpd and have been in decline ever since.
If you notice our economy and the cost of oil are inextricably bound, the higher the price of oil goes, the more our economy chokes.
Our presence in the Middle east is very necessary - as the world runs out of oil, someone needs to be in control of the last remaining reserves.
The days of cheap oil are now over. These are going to be very interesting times ahead indeed.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:27 amSomething Rush pointed out - does anyone wonder why Bush is asking the Saudis to increase oil production - something that WE refuse to do ourselves?
May 16th, 2008 at 7:35 amsorry for the language ahead of time but….
Sucking Saudi Dick for lower oil prices is NOT an energy plan.
The dems that are owned by the eco-nazis are completely disgraceful in my book and we need to do more drilling and building of power plants
May 16th, 2008 at 7:41 amThese people are not our friends. Why do we continue to act as they are. We are business associates at best. Start drilling in Anwar and start rationing gas to the public. Make whatever effort we can here, now, to lower our fuel costs so we don’t have to beg these bastards for help. They are not our friends. We are merely a convenience for them.
After all, the fact that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi’s and it should say something as to who are really our friends. Also close all the Arab schools and mosques built or being built with their money. What should we allow them ownership in America. What good are they if we can’t get their help when we need it.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:54 amKurt - that’s correct. Gaining energy independence should be like the space race of the 1960’s. We need to do “WHATEVER IT TAKES” to get there.
Drill, dig, build, grow, capture, conserve, the energy we need to fuel our country into future prosperity and stability for the 21st century.
This century it’s going to be all about energy and living in a post hydrocarbon world.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:04 am