Saudi Arabia today rebuffed George Bush's appeal to increase production and help cut record oil prices, the White House said.

It was the second time this year that the pleas of the US president, who is visiting King Abdullah, have fallen on deaf ears.

Bush's latest request came as the price of crude oil hit a new high of more than $127 (£65) a barrel.

"What they're saying to us is ... Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy," the US national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, told reporters.

However, the oil minister, Ali Naimi, said later that Saudi Arabia had raised production by 300,000 barrels per day on May 10 in response to requests from its customers. He said the increase would push the kingdom's output to 9.45m barrels a day by June.

High petrol prices are a potential issue in November's US presidential election. When Bush made his first appeal in January the Saudi oil minister said that oil production was at normal levels and the kingdom would raise production only when the market justified it.

Bush has conceded that raising output is difficult because the demand for oil — particularly from China and India — is stretching supplies.

The price of crude oil has consistently traded at new highs this year since hitting $100 a barrel at the beginning of January.

UBS yesterday became the latest bank to predict the price of crude oil could hit $200, with its analysts saying that the figure could be reached by 2015.

The US Congress yesterday voted to halt daily shipments of 70,000 barrels of oil to the US's emergency reserve in a bid to push down prices.

Bush had argued that halting the shipments would have little or no impact on petrol or crude oil prices.

The US Energy Department said later it had cancelled shipments into the reserve, beginning in July. But the White House has indicated that he will sign the reserve measure.

Senate Democrats have introduced a resolution that would block $1.4bn in arms sales to Saudi Arabia — the world's biggest oil supplier — unless it agrees to increase its production by 1m barrels a day.

The Democrats said they proposed the measure to coincide with Bush's visit to send a message to Saudi Arabia that it should produce more oil to reduce the cost of petrol for Americans.

While demand has surged because of booming economies in developing countries, political tensions in Nigeria, Venezuela and Iran have threatened supplies.

Before Bush arrived in Saudi Arabia, the US said it had agreed to cooperate to protect Saudi Arabia's oil and to help it develop peaceful nuclear energy. Saudi Arabia accounts for more than a tenth of global oil output and severe damage to its infrastructure would have far-reaching effects.

Al-Qaida has threatened more strikes on Saudi oil facilities after a failed attack on the world's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq in February 2006.

"The United States and Saudi Arabia have agreed to cooperate in safeguarding the kingdom's energy resources by protecting key infrastructure, enhancing Saudi border security, and meeting Saudi Arabia's expanding energy needs in an environmentally responsible manner," a White House statement said.

The two countries will also sign a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on a peaceful nuclear programme