RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — With oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, President Bush on Tuesday 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 Middle East trip that has focused largely on Israeli-Palestinian peace and Iran’s regional ambitions, Bush pivoted sharply to the rising price of oil. He planned to raise the subject Tuesday 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,” Bush told reporters here, referring to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The shift from Bush appeared abrupt Tuesday. On Monday, his aides said they did not know whether the subject would come up in his 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 Bush made clear his concern that the sharp increase in prices was a threat to the U.S. economy.
“It could cause this economy to slow down,” Bush told reporters in a roundtable interview at the king’s guest palace.
He said he thought some of the fundamentals of the U.S. 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,” Bush said. “What’s happened is, is that demand for energy has outstripped new supply. And that’s why there’s high price.”
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi held out the possibility that his country would raise production and said Bush raised valid concerns about the impact on the U.S. economy. “We are very much concerned. We don’t want to see the U.S. economy go into recession in the future,” the oil minister said.
Asked whether the U.S. 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.”
