Canada energy minister will not attend Jeddah talks

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada, the largest energy supplier to the United States, will not attend a June 22 meeting of oil producers and consumers in the Saudi city of Jeddah, an official said on Wednesday.

Bernadette Murphy, director of communications for Canadian Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, said Canada -- a net exporter of crude oil -- will not be at the event.

Murphy told Reuters Lunn had not been invited to the meeting, and said that to the best of her knowledge the Canadian government as a whole had also not been invited.

"Canada will not be attending," she said.

U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman is among those who will attend.

Leading oil exporter Saudi Arabia has called the meeting to discuss high oil prices. Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members have argued there is no shortage of supply to justify high oil prices, which traded above $134 a barrel on Wednesday.

Canada's Conservative government, facing domestic pressure on oil prices, has frequently said they should be set by world markets with no government intervention.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty allowed on Monday there may be an element of speculation in current skyrocketing prices.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer; editing by Peter Galloway)