Saudis deny petrol deal to help Bush's re-election
Saudi Arabia has denied accusations in Bob Woodward’s latest book that it made a secret agreement with the White House to take steps to lower petrol prices before the November elections.
“The allegation that the kingdom is manipulating the price of oil for political purposes or to affect elections is erroneous and has no basis in fact,” said a statement issued in Riyadh by top Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir.
“Over the past 30 years, the kingdom has sought to ensure adequate supplies of crude at moderate price levels that are acceptable to both producers and consumers. This policy is consistent, and independent of who is in power within consuming countries, including the US,” al-Jubeir added.
While al-Jubeir did not mention Woodward’s Plan of Attack, he was clearly referring to the book, which was released earlier this month and has been the talk of Washington and of the campaign trail.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry referred to the allegations on oil production yesterday.
“If it is true that gas supplies and prices in America are tied to the American election, tied to a secret White House deal, that is outrageous and unacceptable to the American people,” Kerry said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, visited the White House in April and that Bush keeps in touch with oil producing nations.
“We’ve made our views very clear, that oil prices should be determined by market forces,” McClellan said.
