Opec will not boost oil output as such a move would increase reserves, Iran's oil minister said on Saturday, despite pressure from the United States and other consumer nations.

'No, because I think a hike in output will add to an increase in reserves,' Oil minister Gholamhossein Nozari told reporters when asked whether the cartel would increase production as requested by the United States.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has said that it has boosted oil output by 300,000 barrels per day to meet rising demand and to compensate for lower output from other producers.

The output would reach 9.45 million bpd in June,  Saudi Arabia oil Minister Ali Al Nuaimi said.

On Friday oil shot to a record high near $128 a barrel after Goldman Sachs forecast a continued spike in prices through the end of the year.

The US has decided to suspend shipments to its strategic oil reserve for the second half of the year after Congress passed a bill calling for its halt.

US President George W Bush has again sought to persuade Saudi Arabia to raise oil output during a visit to the world's biggest crude exporter as record oil prices hit Western consumers.

'Clearly, the price of petrol is too high for Americans, and it's causing a hardship for many families of low income. But it also is not allowing our economy to grow as strong as it could,' White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said aboard Air Force One which brought Bush from Israel to Riyadh.

'We do count on the Opec countries to keep adequate supplies out there. And so the president will talk again with the king about that,' she said before King Abdullah led a red-carpet welcome for Bush at Riyadh airport.

Analysts said Saudis were likely to raise their own concerns about Washington's failure to do more to advance the Middle East peace process, amid growing fears that the influence of Iran is soaring on the back of Arab frustration.

After arrival Bush and his wife Laura went with King Abdullah to the monarch's ranch in Janadriyah, 40km northeast of Riyadh, for talks Bush had said would focus on the damage soaring oil prices are causing to Western economies.

'I have made the case that the high price of oil injures economies. But I think we better understand that there's not a lot of excess capacity in this world right now,' he told a news conference last month.

Analysts said it was unclear whether the Saudis, who blame skyrocketing prices on speculation rather than supply shortages, had any more power to control rising prices than the Americans.

Riyadh appears more concerned about Iran's increasing influence in the Arab world in the face of perceived Western bias towards Israel.