Saudi Arabia pledges to meet oil demand on Bush plea

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia reiterated it would pump as much oil as needed to meed demand from customers, but said this was unlikely to lead to any drop in fuel prices in the United States, a US official said on Friday.

For now, the world's top oil exporter sees no unmet demand for its oil, the official said.

President George W. Bush met Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on Friday to press for Saudi help to tame record oil prices. The US official briefed the press after the meeting.

Bush has appealed to oil-rich Saudi Arabia to increase output just as oil prices have hit another record high.

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.

Bush was spending the day with King Abdullah at his horse farm outside Riyadh, talking mostly out of public view over three tea services and two meals.

After their first sessions on Friday, Bush and Abdullah presided over a ceremony formalising new cooperation between the kingdom and the United States on a range of topics: combating nuclear terrorism and weapons proliferation, protecting infrastructure and developing civilian nuclear energy in Saudi Arabia.

The White House says the president's visit is intended, in part, to celebrate 75 years of formal US-Saudi relations. But the rising price of oil undoubtedly will overshadow the talks.

Bush acknowledges that raising output is difficult because the demand for oil 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.