 Remarks
by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to
the Council on Foreign Relations'
Conference on U.S.-Saudi Relations
April
22, 2002
The
following is an excerpt from Secretary
Abraham's remarks.
U.S.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham:
I have been particularly impressed by
his [Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabian
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral
Resources] hard work in the effort to
diversify Saudi Arabia's energy
infrastructure -- and by the important
progress Saudi Arabia has made in this
area.
This
conference recognizes and examines the
close relationship between the United
States and Saudi Arabia. That
relationship, one of friendship between
our nations, has been a bulwark of
stability in the Middle East, and one
that has benefited both nations and the
world.
We have
been partners on many fronts, and over
many decades.
We laid
the foundation for our special
relationship back in the 1930s when
major American oil companies first began
to collaborate with Saudi Arabia on
energy issues.
We built
on that foundation and over the years,
through World War II, the Cold War and
beyond, that relationship has endured.
Of
course, during that time the role of the
Saudi energy minister became
increasingly important, and visits
between Minister Naimi's predecessors
and my predecessors at the Department of
Energy became commonplace.
But it
was the Gulf War that most dramatically
demonstrated the importance of our
mutual interests.
We came
to Saudi Arabia's aid when it was
threatened with invasion, and Saudi
Arabia, in turn, turned on its
tremendous spare production capacity to
offset the loss of oil from Iraq and
Kuwait, ensuring adequate supplies and
calming roiled oil markets.
Then
came September 11 and its aftermath.
Minister Naimi's reassuring statement,
made the day after the attacks, is worth
quoting.
"The
government of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia," he said, "will
cooperate with fellow OPEC producers to
cover any oil supply shortage following
the attacks on the United States.
"The
Saudi Arabian government," he went
on to say, "gives special
importance to the stability of the oil
market and to providing constant
supplies under all circumstances in
cooperation with OPEC to cover any
shortage that might occur in the market
for any reason."
The
world, I know, greatly appreciated these
commitments, just as we all appreciated
Minister Naimi's remarks earlier this
month when he said, in response to
Iraq's call for an oil embargo against
the United States, "Saudi Arabia
rejects the use of oil as a political
weapon and is committed to stable and
fair prices on the oil market."
I want
to take this opportunity to thank
Minister Naimi and his government for
his and Saudi Arabia's commitments and
reassurances at a time of such
uncertainty.
Click
here to read the complete transcript.
Source: U.S.
Department of Energy
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