RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - President Bush is appealing to oil-rich Saudi Arabia to increase production just as oil prices have hit another record high.

When the two met here in mid-January, the president asked Saudi Arabia to raise production to ease high prices at the pump. Bush got a chilly response to his plea. The kingdom said it would increase production only when the market justified it, and that production levels appeared normal.

Oil prices climbed to a new high Friday, above $127 a barrel. At the pump, gas prices rose to a national average of $3.78 per gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

When Bush first ran for president in 2000, he criticized the Clinton administration for high fuel prices and said the president must "jawbone" oil producing nations and persuade them to drop rates. At that time, oil was nearing $28 a barrel.

Bush's visit to Saudi Arabia, which has the world's largest supply of oil, comes two days after Congress voted to temporarily halt daily shipments of 70,000 barrels of oil to the nation's emergency reserve. Bush has refused to stop pouring oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying the stockpile was meant for emergencies and that halting the shipments would have little or no impact on gasoline or crude oil prices.

It's a move that Democrats have sought for the past year to increase supply and apply downward pressure on prices. With an eye to the November election, the Senate sent the measure to the president Wednesday night without a single GOP objection. The White House has indicated that Bush will sign the reserve measure.

Anthony Cordesman, a security analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Abdullah may produce something "simply because it's good manners," but nothing that would have a significant effect.

"U.S. influence over OPEC and Gulf oil production is diminished," he said. "It's not clear what the incentive is to Saudi Arabia. We can't deliver on (Mideast) peace. We can't deliver on arms transfers. We can't deliver on the Iraq that Saudi Arabia wants. We are raising problems in terms of Iran. And the reality is the market isn't being driven by us; it's being driven by China, by India, by rising Asian demand."

Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS' Middle East program, said the Saudis, with a public that doesn't like Bush and a ruling monarchy with growing interests elsewhere, are not likely "to put themselves out to help this president."

"The Saudis don't have an alternative to keeping the U.S. in its corner, but their reliance on the United States, their confidence in the United States is extremely shaken," Alterman said.

The Saudi-American relationship began in the 1940s with a simple bargain: Saudi Arabia offered oil in return for U.S. protection. The United States became the kingdom's biggest trading partner and the Saudis became the biggest buyers of U.S. weapons. Many Saudis sent their children to American schools.

But over the years, issues arose.

Saudis, like other Arabs, feel Washington leans unfairly to Israel's side in the dispute with the Palestinians.

And Saudi-U.S. ties took their hardest hit after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which 15 the 19 airline hijackers were Saudis. Americans blamed Saudis for allowing the religious extremism that gave rise to the hijackers. Though anti-terror cooperation has been relatively strong since, Saudis still smart from what they feel are unfair accusations.

Makes you want to smack the chit out of someone doesn't it??