WASHINGTON, April 19: Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will not use oil prices to try to sway the US presidential election, denying an allegation that Riyadh would cut petroleum prices before November to boost President George Bush's re-election bid.

Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said in a television interview on Sunday that Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, had promised Mr Bush the Saudis would cut oil prices before November.

Bob Woodward, author of a new book on Mr Bush's preparations for the Iraq war "Plan of Attack", said Prince Bandar pledged the Saudis would try to fine-tune oil prices to prime the US economy for the presidential election, a move they understood would favor Mr Bush.

A Saudi official issued a statement saying Riyadh would not interfere with US elections and would remain a reliable supplier of oil. "We do not use oil for political purposes; it is too important a commodity, and its impact on the global economy (of which we are a part) is tremendous," said Adel al Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia also does not interfere in elections," he said. White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to comment directly on Mr Woodward's remarks. But Mr McClellan said Prince Bandar, in recent talks at the White House, "committed to making sure prices remained in a range of, I believe, 22 dollars to 28 dollars per barrel of oil, and that they don't want to do anything that would harm our consumers or harm our economy".

"Prices should be determined by market forces, and we are always in close contact with producers around the world on these issues," Mr McClellan told reporters. Mr Woodward's assertion drew criticism from Democratic presidential challenger Senator John Kerry.

He said on Monday it would be "outrageous and unacceptable" if the Bush administration and the Saudis reached a "secret" deal to tie the price of gasoline and fuel supplies to the presidential election. -Reuters