Bush Prods Saudi Arabia on Oil Prices

King Abdullah and President Bush at the king’s horse farm near the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Mr. Bush has raised the issue of oil prices with leaders during his trip.

Speaking to a group of Saudi entrepreneurs and later to reporters, Mr. Bush expressed concern about the economy in some of his starkest language yet, saying that rising oil costs and gasoline prices were causing hardship for American families. He vowed to raise the issue with the Saudi leader, King Abdullah, during a meeting and dinner at the king’s lush horse farm in the desert outside of Riyadh, the capital.
“My point to His Majesty is going to be, when consumers have less purchasing power because of high prices of gasoline — in other words, when it affects their families, it could cause this economy to slow down,” the president said in an expansive interview summarizing his eight-day trip to the Middle East. “If the economy slows down, there will be less barrels of oil purchased.”

Saudi Arabia, he said, shared the president’s concern that a downturn in the American economy could have profound effects around the world, including on the oil market. He even raised the prospect of “recession,” a word Mr. Bush studiously avoided in the interview, even when pressed about “the R-word.” But Mr. Naimi said Saudi Arabia would raise production only “when the market justifies it.”

Source: NY Times

Sphere: Related Content