Saudi oil boost could calm markets - U.S. Senator Schumer

By Roberta Rampton

(Reuters) - The United States should do more to encourage Saudi Arabia to boost its oil production to make up for lost Iranian oil, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said on Sunday, urging renewed diplomacy as a way to ease the run-up in oil prices.

Tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear program have pushed oil prices to nine-month highs, and U.S. gasoline prices have surged, becoming a top political issue in the run-up to the 2012 presidential elections.

A public promise from Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, to pump oil at its full capacity would calm oil markets as well as gasoline prices, Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In the letter, which was obtained by Reuters, Schumer asked Clinton to urge the Saudi government to increase production to full capacity of 12.5 million barrels per day - an increase of 2.5 million barrels.

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/02/26/usa-iran-saudi-idINDEE81P07320120226