President George W. Bush said on Monday he hoped Opec producers would get more supply to the market in order to relieve the high price of gasoline.
"I want to welcome the comments of the Opec and non-Opec nations talking about making sure they get enough supply on the market to help hopefully affect the world price of crude oil," Bush told reporters.
Opec ministers meeting in Vienna were said to be prepared to postpone action on extra crude supply, falling short of expectations among some consumer countries for immediate relief from fuel price inflation.
Bush said fuel disruptions triggered by Hurricane Katrina had been addressed, "but part of the cost of gasoline is the result of high crude oil prices and one way to affect those prices is to conserve and the other way is to encourage increased supply."
"So I want to thank those countries that are trying to figure out how to get more supply on the market to help relieve some of the pressure," Bush said.