US official says Cheney unlikely to have pressured Saudi over oil
JERUSALEM (AFP) — A senior US official suggested on Monday that Vice President Dick Cheney did not pressure Saudi Arabia to increase oil production during his visit to the kingdom last week.
"It's a little hard to go berate others to produce more when we won't produce everything we can ourselves," the official told reporters travelling with the vice president as he wrapped up a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Cheney met with Saudi King Abdullah on his horse farm Friday for about four and a half hours, and also had talks with Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi, amid rising election-year anger among US voters about soaring energy costs.
They discussed "what could be done shorter term, but probably more about what's necessary to do over the medium and longer term," a senior US official told reporters Saturday on condition of anonymity.
At the time it was not clear whether Cheney had pushed his long-time friend -- aides say they grew close during the 1991 Gulf War when Cheney was defence secretary -- to increase production in a bid to lower record oil prices.
