Saudi Arabia has said it will not allow oil shortages that would harm world economic growth, despite its support for production cuts through OPEC.
The cuts were publicly criticised by the US administration.
'Saudi Arabia's policy is consistent. Number one: we will not allow any shortages in the market,' Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the US, told reporters in a surprise appearance outside the White House.
Prince Bandar said he had passed along a message to President George Bush from Saudi Arabia's ruler Crown Prince Abdullah.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's most influential member, was seen as leading a move by the cartel to cut production by about 4%.
The Bush administration criticised the action, after asking OPEC to delay production cuts because of record US retail petrol prices.
