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Washington: President George W. Bush is unlikely to complain about oil prices near $100 per barrel when he meets with Saudi Arabia's king this week, even though prices have nearly doubled since the last time the two met in 2005.
When he arrives in Riyadh on Monday, Bush would be well within his bounds to quiz the Saudis on how the de facto leaders of Opec can tame oil prices that are an added blow to a US economy tilting toward recession.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, produces about nine million barrels per day and is in the midst of a major capacity boost aimed at relieving drum-tight global supply.
"Where are those 12.5 million barrels per day that their oil minister has been promising forever?" said Thomas Lippman, adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute.
The day the former Texas oil man walked arm-in-arm with King Abdullah, then the Crown Prince, at Bush's Texas ranch in April 2005, oil cost around $54 a barrel, a level that Saudi officials admitted was "clearly too high."
With prices now near $93 a barrel, Bush is likely to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process when the world's biggest oil consumer and its biggest exporter meet.
The oil issue will likely be left to US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman when he visits Saudi Arabia later this month.
It's hard to criticise Saudi Arabia when it's spending about $50 billion to expand production capacity, said Frank Verrastro, an energy expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Weak case
"The Saudis are the ones that are spending the money," Verrastro said. "It's kind of a weak case if you're going to try to blast them."
Saudi Arabia plays a vital role in the fragile US oil supply chain. For January-October 2007 - the most current US data - it sent 1.422 million barrels per day to US shores. That was bested only by Canada, and year after year it places among the top five US suppliers, along with Mexico, Nigeria and Venezuela.
And while Mexico's crown jewel Cantarell oil field suffers from chronic declines and Nigeria's output has been dented by rebel attacks, Saudi Arabia has steadily held to its export commitments, experts said.
Bush would be "misinformed and ill-advised" to pressure the Saudis given their vital role, Lippman said at a Centre for National Policy event.
The Saudis are already hard-pressed to find buyers for about one million barrels per day of heavy oil.
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