By Adam Entous and Tom Doggett
Washington - Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will not use oil prices to try to sway the United States presidential election, denying an allegation that the kingdom would cut petroleum prices before November to boost President George Bush's re-election bid.
Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said in a television interview on Sunday that Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, promised Bush the Saudis would cut oil prices before November.
Woodward, author of a new book on Bush's preparations for the Iraq war Plan of Attack, said Prince Bandar pledged the Saudis would try to fine-tune oil prices to prime the US economy for November's presidential election, a move they understood would favour Bush.
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| 'Saudi Arabia also does not interfere in elections' |
A Saudi official issued a statement saying the kingdom - the world's largest oil exporter - will not interfere with US elections and will remain a reliable supplier of oil.
"We do not use oil for political purposes; it is too important a commodity, and its impact on the global economy (of which we are a part) is tremendous," said Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
"Saudi Arabia also does not interfere in elections," he said.
White House spokesperson Scott McClellan declined to comment directly on Woodward's remarks.
But McClellan said Bandar, in recent talks at the White House, "committed to making sure prices remained in a range of, I believe, $22 (about R143) to $28 per barrel of oil, and that they don't want to do anything that would harm our consumers or harm our economy."
OPEC has an official price target band of between $22 and $28 for its oil. It was last in that range on December 1, after having been above it repeatedly for weeks before that. On Monday, US crude oil futures rose above $38 a barrel to a four-week high.
"Prices should be determined by market forces, and we are always in close contact with producers around the world on these issues," McClellan told reporters.
Woodward's assertion, meanwhile, drew criticism from Democratic presidential challenger Senator John Kerry.
Kerry said on Monday it would be "outrageous and unacceptable" if the Bush administration and the Saudis reached a "secret" deal to tie the price of gasoline and fuel supplies to the presidential election.
Democrats have attacked Bush for failing to stem rising domestic gasoline prices, which on Monday hit a high of $1,81 a gallon, a new record for the fourth week in a row, according to the US Energy Department.
Kerry has criticised Bush for not taking a tougher stand against OPEC, and the Saudis in particular, after the cartel decided to cut its oil production quota earlier this month.
OPEC's actual output is much higher than its quota, since members sell more oil to take advantage of high prices.
High crude oil prices are expected to net Saudi Arabia a $5,3-billion budget surplus this year and boost economic growth by one percent, the SAMBA Financial Group said in a report on Monday.
Prince Bandar has been the Saudi envoy to the United States for 20 years and is part of the Saudi royal family, which has had a close relationship with the Bush family for years. On April 1, after Saudi Arabia led OPEC's push to cut daily output by 1 million barrels, Bandar told the White House the kingdom would not allow shortages to hurt world economic growth.
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