Cheney says Saudi Arabia kept oil promise

JERUSALEM, March 24 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia is keeping its word that it would boost production and ease global oil prices, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said in Jerusalem.

Cheney said the Saudis promised three years ago to raise production, investing $90 billion in the process and increasing production capacity from 10.5 million barrels a day in 2005 to 11.8 million barrels today, reaching 12.5 million barrels by 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Cheney spoke about oil production and other topics in a meeting with reporters in Israel before he departed for Turkey during his visit to the Middle East. When summarizing his talks with Israeli leaders, Cheney said Iran and Syria are "doing everything they can to torpedo the peace process" by supplying and supporting Hamas and Hezbollah.

Emerging as an area of concern is arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip, rocket attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza into Israel and stymieing the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, he said.

Cheney called the mounting U.S. military death toll in the Middle East a "tragedy" but today's world is violent and "we do live in that kind of world."