High oil prices not good for Saudi, US, says Al-Naimi

Record crude oil prices above $70 per barrel are not in the interest of the world’s largest producer or its largest consumer, Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said yesterday.
“Prices at these levels are not in the interest of either Saudi Arabia or the US,” Naimi said in prepared remarks at a joint appearance with US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Naimi said that cutting reliance on foreign imports will not boost energy security as US President George W Bush has asserted.