Crown prince Abdullah discuss oil prices with Bush

The spokesman for the White House said yesterday that the US President George W. Bush and the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah discussed oil prices, noting that the US administration also speaks with other producers from inside OPEC and outside it.

The spokesman explained that "we continue to be for an active contact with our friends in OPEC and other producers around the world to tackle such issues." He added that "Bush and the ( Saudi) Crown prince were in contacts for a time over this issue." Earlier, OPEC had approved reduction of its production at a cost of one million barrels a day, despite the demand made by the US administration to delay the reduction.

However, the Saudi ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, had stated after his meeting with Bush at the White House on Thursday that Riyadh will not permit " any shortage in the world oil market." He added that Saudi Arabia intends to keep the price of one Barrel between 22 and 28 USD in the world market. A price which is much lower than the current price estimated at USD 35 per one barrel. He said " the objective of my government is USD 25 for one barrel."