Saudi Arabia denies deal with Bush on oil The Associated Press The Associated Press Wednesday, April 21, 2004 RIYADH Saudi Arabia has denied accusations that it has an agreement with the White House to increase oil production closer to U.S. elections on Nov. 2 and thus lower gasoline prices. . "The allegation that the kingdom is manipulating the price of oil for political purposes or to affect elections is erroneous and has no basis in fact," said a statement issued on Monday in Riyadh by a Saudi foreign policy adviser, Adel al-Jubeir. . The CBS News program "60 Minutes" reported on Sunday night that the Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, had promised President George W. Bush that Saudi Arabia would lower oil prices in the months before the election to ensure that the economy was strong on Election Day. . "That's the Saudi pledge," Woodward told "60 Minutes" for a report on his book about the Iraq war, "Plan of Attack," published on Tuesday. . "Certainly over the summer or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly." . The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said that ambassador visited the White House this month and that "we've made our views very clear, that oil prices should be determined by market forces." Bandar said there was no plan to increase oil production. . Kerry attacks 'secret deal' . Earlier, David M. Halbfinger and Jodi Wilgoren of The New York Times reported from Atlanta: . Senator John Kerry has attacked the Bush administration for what he called "a secret deal" with Saudi Arabia to cut oil prices before the election. . Campaigning in South Florida before flying to Atlanta to raise money, Kerry seized upon the Woodward book that recounts an Oval Office discussion of a potential invasion of Iraq. In that discussion, Kerry said, "the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense made a deal with Saudi Arabia that would deliver lower gas prices." . "But here's the catch," Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, said at a gathering in Lake Worth, Florida. "The American people would have to wait until the election, until November of 2004," for the Saudis to lower oil prices. . "If this sounds wrong to you, that's because it is fundamentally wrong," Kerry said. . "And if, as Bob Woodward reports, it is true that gas supplies and prices in America are tied to the American election, tied to a secret White House deal, that is outrageous and unacceptable to the people of America."