Saudi Arabia to boost oil production

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 22 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia says it is increasing its oil production from 9 million to 9.7 million barrels per day to cope with high world energy prices.

Saudi King Abdullah made the announcement Sunday during an emergency energy summit in Jeddah, where he also called for OPEC to spend $1 billion on strategies to deal with the high prices, including $500 million in "soft loans" to developing countries, CNN reported.

The Saudis blamed financial market speculators, rising taxes and currency fluctuations for the sharp rise in crude oil prices, which have jumped to nearly $140 per barrel in recent days. They and other oil producing nations say there is enough supply in the markets, and that the price increases are "disconnected" from the fundamentals of supply and demand.

But the United States disagrees. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who was also attending the Jeddah summit, said production had to be increased to offset the price run-up, coupled with conservation measures in the oil consuming nations.

"All nations must be better at conservation and the U.S. is at the top of that list," Bodman said.