Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Monday he discussed with his Norwegian counterpart cooperation between their two oil-exporting countries to stabilize oil markets as prices hit new highs. Saudi-Norwegian cooperation “aims to stabilize the world oil market to serve the interests of producers, consumers, the oil industry and the world economy in general,” Prince Saud Al-Faisal told reporters after talks with visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and OPEC kingpin, is keen not to hurt consumers, Saud said when asked about record high prices, which on Monday hit a peak close to $120 a barrel. However, oil fell more than $2 a barrel on Tuesday, retreating further from a record high hit a day before, as the dollar firmed and a strike ended at Britain's Grangemouth refinery. Resumption of talks between Nigerian unions and Exxon Mobil to end a six-day strike that has shut in much of the US oil major's Nigerian output also helped oil's retreat from Monday's record high of $119.93 a barrel. US light crude for June delivery fell $2.20 to $116.55 a barrel by 1511 GMT. London Brent crude was down $2.34 at $114.40. “We worry about consuming countries. They are our customers, and who would hurt his customer? We are not going to damage the economy of anybody,' he said. Norway, however, sought to play down talk about discussions. Norwegian Foreign Ministry Assistant Director General, Bjorn Jahnsen, told Reuters that he had not heard about any dicussions concerning co-operation over the oil price between the two countries. “The aim (of the visit) was to broaden the political dialogue with Saudi Arabia. We do not normally talk about the price of oil,” added Jahnsen, who was in the Middle East, traveling with his minister. However in Oslo a spokesman for the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy said the two oil producing nations regularly held bilateral meetings, although she had no specific knowledge of the latest visit. “Norway as a big producer and exporter of oil and gas, has dialogue with Saudi Arabia... because both are big producers,' she added. Norway, the world's fifth-biggest exporter but not an OPEC member, said last week that it would support a drop in crude prices but does not believe there is a problem with supplies. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi called last week for calm in the face of runaway prices, saying there was no imminent oil shortage.
