Washington (Platts)--24Mar2008

US Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that Saudi Arabia was on track
to meet its commitment to produce at least 12.5 million b/d of crude by the
end of 2009, but that the US needs to increase domestic production if it wants
to ease record high prices.

Cheney, who met with Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi last week during his
visit with King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, said the kingdom's leadership had
"kept their word" that they would increase production to help stabilize energy
markets.

According to figures from the US Energy Information Administration, OPEC
kingpin Saudi Arabia pumped 9.2 million b/d in January and February.

Cheney, in a roundtable interview with journalists in Israel, seemed
satisfied with Saudi Arabia's level of production, and sidestepped questions
as to why President George W. Bush and Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman asked
the kingdom earlier this year to push OPEC to boost output to help combat oil
prices above $100/barrel.

OPEC met on February 1 and March 5 and both times left its production
target unchanged. Ministers blamed high oil prices on the declining value of
the US dollar, refining bottlenecks, market speculation and poor US economic
management, while insisting global oil markets were amply supplied.

"Well, I wasn't [there]," Cheney said of Bush's request for more
production, according to a transcript of the roundtable. "I don't find it
surprising, though, that he would make that suggestion."

Cheney used the opportunity to again call for more domestic energy
production, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He said the
decision to bar drilling in parts of the Outer Continental Shelf and Alaska
contributed to high energy costs.

"The fact of the matter is, the United States, over the years has put
large areas of our territory off limits to production for various reasons," he
said. "And all of that, ultimately, gets reflected in the price of gasoline
and everything else we've got."

--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com