Riyadh, 16 May, 2008. U.S. President George Bush and Saudi King Abdullah, (Photo AP)

From AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Bush, once a Texas oilman, asked Saudi Arabia to pump more crude, he may have forgotten that the Saudis have a long memory. And that made it a good bet his mission this past week would produce a dry hole.

In the 1990s the OPEC cartel was eager to pump more oil in a grab for cash as prices — like today — were going up, passing what then was viewed as a healthy sum in the $20-plus range. But then the Asia economic crisis struck and oil prices plummeted to below $10 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia and other producers got burned.

"They remember that and they're not going have that happen again," says Robert Ebel, an international energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "They understand the market just as well as we do."

This time Bush in his trip to Riyadh and his private meetings with Saudi King Abdullah walked away with a trickle of oil, but nowhere near a gusher.

Timing the announcement with the president's visit, the Saudis said they would pump an additional 300,000 barrels of crude next month. They also made a point that the decision had been made a week ago, and not in response to Bush's visit.