Jeddah : The world's energy powers embarked on a new level of dialogue to rein in runaway oil prices at an emergency meeting in this Red Sea city, but were unlikely to come up with a quick fix. While British prime minister Gordon Brown said there was a consensus that oil prices were too high, host Saudi Arabia vowed to pump more oil in response to consumer countries' requests. But, he said that alone would not be enough to calm a market driven by an array of factors.

Why the Saudis are worried about the high price of crude

BY ANDREW HAMMOND AND SIMON WEBB Leading oil exporter Saudi Arabia has summoned consumer nations and fellow producers to an urgently convened meeting to thrash out a solution to oil prices, which it says are unjustifiably high. Producers and consumers have long blamed each other, but the Saudi Cabinet, chaired by King Abdullah, issued instructions to bring them together after oil rose by an unprecedented $16 a barrel over a little more than 24 hours to more than $139.

Abu Dhabi is preparing to launch a large-scale agricultural project in Sudan to develop more than 70,000 acres of land as part of the oil-rich Gulf emirate's efforts to secure food supplies. The project comes amid growing interest from Middle Eastern states to use land overseas to ensure food security. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have also held talks with Sudan and are considering agricultural projects of their own in Africa's largest nation, officials confirmed yesterday.

Rising oil prices is forcing Gulf states to invest in gas production. Some analysts estimate that the cumulative supply shortfall for the six countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council up to 2015 will reach at least 7,000bn cubic feet. To put the number into perspective, according to BP the UK's entire remaining proven gas reserves total just under 17,000bn cu ft. "There is a Middle East regional gas crisis brewing," says Rajnish Goswami at Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh-based energy consultancy.

Crude oil prices on Friday hit a fresh record high of almost $128 a barrel boosted by a bullish forecast from Goldman Sachs and as US President George W. Bush asked Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, for help to lower skyrocketing energy prices. Bush, on his second visit to Saudi Arabia this year, was renewing his appeal for the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to boost its output.

For years, food policy in the Middle East and North Africa was very simple: hydrocarbon exports paid for carbohydrate imports. Rising agricultural commodities prices and a large population increase mean that the traditional policy is now untenable even if crude oil trades at about $120 a barrel, forcing countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, to reconsider how it feeds its population. "The region has woken up to the new food market reality," says Abdolreza Abbassian, an expert at the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome.

It is great to see that we Americans finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead the United States, it takes your breath away.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer, has put on hold any plans to further increase long-term production capacity from its vast oil fields, its most powerful policymakers have said. In a series of statements, including one by the king himself, the kingdom has warned consumers it does not believe there is a need for further expansion, an assumption disputed by the world's biggest developed countries.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has begun a new round of engagement with Saudi Arabia, aimed at bolstering energy, security as well as trade and investment ties. During his two-day visit, he will hold talks with his Saudi counterpart Saud Al Faisal. Maritime security