President Bush says "there's a hope" that as a result of his conversations this week with Saudi King Abdullah, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries "would be encouraged to authorize an increase in (oil) production," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters on Wednesday.
Based on Bush's conversations Tuesday evening with King Abdullah, the president said that "the king said that (he) understands the situation. He's worried about high oil prices and how they can negatively (affect) the economies around the world," she added.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer, has major influence on OPEC decisions. OPEC next meets to determine production on Feb. 1.
On Tuesday, in response to Bush's complaints about high crude prices, the Saudi oil minister said that his country would increase production as market conditions dictated. But he appeared to hold out little hope of an immediate unilateral boost in output by Saudi Arabia, which has reserve capacity of about 2 million barrels per day. Nevertheless, oil prices sank, possibly in response to the comments. Weak retail sales data also appeared to be a factor.