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| 17/05/2008 US President George W. Bush arrived in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak and Palestinian leaders. Bush is also due to attend the Middle East World Economic Forum, dubbed the Davos of the Middle East, which will bring together 1,500 people from 55 countries under the theme "learning from the future."
Bush failed yesterday to win Saudi Arabia's help to relieve skyrocketing American gas prices, a setback for the former Texas oilman who took office predicting he would jawbone oil-producing nations to help the US. Bush got a red-carpet welcome to the kingdom, home to the world's largest oil reserves, and promised to ask King Abdullah to increase production to reduce pressure on prices, which soared past $127 for the first time Friday.
But Saudi officials said they already were meeting the needs of their customers worldwide and there was no need to pump more. Their answer recalled Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia in January when he urged an increase in production but was rebuffed. Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said the kingdom decided on May 10 to increase production by 300,000 barrels a day to help meet US needs after Venezuela and Mexico cut back deliveries.
"Supply and demand are in balance today," al-Naimi told a news conference, bristling at criticism from the US Congress. "How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?" Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said the discussion with Bush about oil was friendly. "I think he was satisfied", the minister said. That couldn't be said for at least one of the candidates hoping to succeed Bush in January. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "I think it's very important that we do something more dramatic than going to have tea with the Saudis."
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said consumers would not see dramatic price reductions. Oil experts agreed. The sagging US economy and painful gasoline prices are the top concerns of Americans in the heart of a heated presidential campaign. The run-up in oil prices has been alarming.
Future prices of crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange have more than doubled in the past year, from $62.46 a barrel in the first week of May, 2007. Prices reached $100 a barrel for the first time in February and continued rising. They closed at $126.29 Friday.
US have agreed to assist the kingdom in developing civilian nuclear power and promised to help protect any Saudi nuclear infrastructure with training, the exchange of experts "and other support services as needed." Hadley said it would not involve US troops.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, at the news conference with the oil minister, said he shared Bush's hope for a 'Mideast peace agreement' by next January but sharply criticized Israel for the "humanistic suffering weighed upon the West Bank and Gaza Strip population" of Palestinians. He said Israel's "continued policy of expanding settlements on Palestinian territories" undermines the peace process. | 
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