Saudi to boost fuel supply to US forces in Gulf

LONDON: Saudi Arabia has steeply raised the amount of its jet fuel earmarked for the United States military, which is expanding its presence in the Gulf, Middle East trading sources said.

They said state oil company Saudi Aramco may have put aside upwards of a million tonnes of the aviation fuel for possible use by the US military this year, compared with around 200,000 tonnes in 2006.

The Pentagon dispatched a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Gulf last month. The Defense Energy Support Center, which oversees the Pentagon