Saudi envoy says Bush oil comments “topic of hour”

DALLAS (Reuters) – President Bush’s call for the United
States to end its dependence on Middle East oil has become “the
topic of the hour” for Saudi Arabia and left the it wondering
what the White House has in mind, the Saudi ambassador to the
United States said on Tuesday.

Prince Turki Al-Faisal said the Saudis were talking with
the Bush administration about the president’s January 31 State
of the Union speech in which he said the U.S. was “addicted to
oil” and should cut Mideast oil imports by 75 percent by 2025.

“This is the topic of the hour for us. We are talking to
the U.S. administration on exactly where they plan to go with
this,” Faisal said a speech in Dallas. “I hope there will be
more discussion between us and the U.S. administration because
this is an issue of prime importance.”

“Oil is our bread and butter, at least for the time being,
and so any decisions by such an important partner as the United
States affects us and makes us concerned about where we are
going,” he said.

In his speech, Bush said: “America is addicted to oil,
which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.”

The goal, he said, is to use technology to “move beyond a
petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle
Eastern oil a thing of the past.”