Hand Holding Days Just About Over? Chimp Asks lower prices for oil companies. Saudi Thugs cites "Market Forces"

OPEC is due to meet in Vienna on February 1 under pressure to calm prices after shrugging off calls to increase output at its last meeting in December.

And Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi later announced: "We will raise production when the market justifies it, this is our policy."

Bush's warning had an instant impact on world oil prices, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, slipping 10 cents to 94.10 dollars per barrel.

His comments came a day after his administration said it was taking the first steps in a multi-billion-dollar arms deal with the kingdom, a key US ally in the volatile region.