Bush discussed oil prices with Gulf Arab leaders

RIYADH (Reuters) - President George W. Bush discussed concerns about the high price of oil in talks with Gulf Arab leaders during his Middle East tour, a senior White House official said on Monday.

Ed Gillespie, a top Bush adviser, told reporters the U.S. leader and Gulf rulers had talked about "the nature of the market and the vast demand that's on the world market today for oil."

But he said he did not know whether Bush had spoken about oil prices with Saudi King Abdullah in their talks on Monday in Riyadh.

Bush made stops in Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates before arriving in Saudi Arabia. His Middle East tour has come amid worries that oil prices that recently hovered near $100 a barrel could push the U.S. economy into recession.

Asked whether Bush had brought up in his discussions Americans' concerns about high oil prices, Gillespie said, "Yes. They talked about oil. The president made the point ... that part of his agenda is alternative fuels."

"They talked about the nature of the market and the vast demand that's on the world market today for oil," he added. "That was a point that was obviously made in the course of these conversations by our friends. That's a legitimate and accurate point."

He said Bush had also proposed that nuclear energy could be an important future source of energy, a position he has regularly asserted in speeches and at news conferences.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick)