Bush urges OPEC to weigh pain of high oil prices
Shaybah oilfield complex is seen at night in the Rub' al-Khali desert, Saudi Arabia, November 14, 2007.
Credit: Reuters/ Ali Jarekji
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday warned it would be a "mistake" for OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna to ignore the pain record-high oil prices are inflicting on the United States, the world's top energy consumer.
In some of his strongest language to date, Bush turned up the heat on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, source of about a third of the globe's oil supply.
Oil prices set new highs above $100 a barrel this week and average U.S. gasoline pump prices crept nearer to their record $3.22 a gallon set last May.
"My advice to OPEC -- of course they haven't listened to it -- my advice to OPEC is understand the consequences of high energy prices, because I do," Bush told reporters after talks with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House.
"I think it's a mistake to have your biggest customer's economy to slow down ... as a result of high energy prices," Bush said.
In real terms, the record U.S. oil price of $103.95 a barrel set on Monday is the highest on record, including the price shocks of 1978-1980, when prices doubled due to a revolution in Iran.
Bush spoke as OPEC ministers met in Vienna to chart policy amid indications the 13-member group will hold output steady.
OPEC has said triple-digit fuel has been driven not by a lack of oil but by factors beyond its control, such as speculative investment and a weak dollar.
U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman was more restrained than the president, saying it "would be good" if OPEC raised production. But Bodman said speculators help drive the global oil market.
"Look, the price of oil is set in the trading rooms in New York and London and Tokyo and Frankfurt and all around the world," Bodman said. "Whatever it is, it is."
The International Energy Agency, advisor to 27 industrialized nations, did not urge an output increase. It merely said OPEC should hold output steady, even though oil markets are "very tight" and spare capacity to meet unseen outages is slim.
Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Department's statistical arm, said OPEC needs to boost its output by 300,000 to 500,000 barrels per day to help build up sagging global oil stockpiles.
That would only be a 1.5 percent increase from OPEC's total January output of 32.23 million bpd, according to EIA data.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Tom Doggett; Editing by David Gregorio)
