Saudis vow to counter oil shortages

Saudi Arabia has said it will act to counter any oil shortage on the world market, despite its support for production cuts through OPEC.

The vow came after Saudi Ambassador to the US prince Bandar bin Sultan met President Bush at the White House.

The meeting took place as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut back on world production by one million barrels per day for April, a move that threatened to raise already record high US gasoline prices.

Prince Bandar said he had given Bush a message from Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, stating that high oil prices would have an "adverse effect" on the world economy.

He said Saudi Arabia had now requested OPEC to cut production, saying there was a debate to try and determine whether production was not in fact too high.