May 18, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 12, 1429

SHARM EL-SHEIK, May 17: US President George W. Bush said on Saturday that the Saudis’ modest increase in oil production “doesn’t solve our problem,” and that the United States must act itself to help bring down soaring gas prices.

“We’ve got to do more at home,” the president said on the lush lawn of a resort overlooking the Red Sea.

Speaking after a private meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he mentioned moves that have long been part of his agenda but stymied in Congress, such as developing alternate fuels, improving conservation and expanding domestic exploration.

Bush said he told Saudi King Abdullah during talks on Friday that the kingdom should be concerned that high energy prices are hurting some of its biggest customers, including the United States. He asked Abdullah for an injection of oil supply to help ease the pain.

“High energy prices are going to cause countries like mine to accelerate our move to alternative energy,” he said he told the king.

But Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said on Friday it had decided a week before Bush’s visit to raise production by 300,000 barrels a day to 9.45 million barrels a day and didn’t see any need to do more.

Energy analysts called the boost a token — it represents just 3 per cent of the total — and it was seen as a rebuff, if a gentle one, of Bush by Abdullah.

Still, the president steered clear of criticism of the Saudis. He noted they are increasing refining capacity as well as pumping more oil.

“It’s not enough. It’s something but it doesn’t solve our problem,” Bush said. “One of the interesting things about American politics is, those who are screaming the loudest for increased production from Saudi Arabia are the very same people who are fighting the fiercest against domestic exploration, against the development of nuclear power and against expanding refining capacity.”

Bush’s domestic energy plan includes opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration and production and making it easier to build new oil refineries and nuclear power plants in the United States.

Even if Congress decided to approve them, the moves would not offer short-term relief to families.

On the last stop of a five-day trip that also included visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia, Bush arrived in Egypt to harsh criticism in the state-run media that he was tilting too far toward Israel in Mideast peace negotiations.

The president’s two-day stay in Israel for 60th anniversary celebrations seemed to reinforce that view.

“Bush aims to do nothing but appeasing Israel,” wrote Mursi Atallah, the publisher of Egypt’s Al-Ahram, the flagship daily of the state-owned press.

A front page editorial in Al-Gomhouria, another Egyptian state-owned daily, described Bush as “a failed president who delivers nothing but a lousy speech.”

There was a similar reaction while Bush was in Saudi Arabia. “We are all aware of the special US-Israeli relation and its political dimensions,” Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said. “It is, however, important also to affirm the legitimate and political rights of the Palestinian people.”

Bush’s first meeting on Saturday was with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and the president said his host “wanted to make sure that my approach toward the Middle Eastern peace is firm and that we work hard to get the Palestinian state defined.”—AP