U.S. President George Bush would still veto legislation allowing U.S.
institutions to sue the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
for what some lawmakers claim are its actions in pushing up oil prices,
the U.S. energy attache in Saudi Arabia said Friday.
"We don't think this legislation has a high likelihood of
passage and President Bush has indicated that he will veto it if it is
passed by Congress," Shannon Ross told OPEC delegates and officials at
the Heads of State meeting here.
U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers,
D-Mich., introduced The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (Nopec)
Act of 2007 in May, arguing OPEC is partly to blame for high gasoline
prices.
The bill, which the House passed 345-72 in May, would change
certain laws, like the Sherman Act and Foreign Sovereign Immunities
Act, to block OPEC countries like Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and
Venezuela from invoking immunity from U.S. court action relating to
concerns about oil production.
The White House argued the bill would backfire on the U.S.,
making less oil available to U.S. refineries and further inflating
gasoline prices.
U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said this week he had
asked OPEC to boost output to reduce oil prices, which reached new
highs of $98 a barrel last week for U.S. light sweet crude. That price
has since fallen to $93.67 a barrel at 0838 GMT Friday.
OPEC's Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri said this
week the group sees no need to add more oil to the market as the U.S.
requested.