UPDATE 1-Cheney, Saudi King discuss oil market

By Tabassum Zakaria

RIYADH, March 22 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah discussed the global energy market and had a lot of "commonality" in their assessment of the oil market after prices reached record highs, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday.

"There was I think a lot of commonality in their assessment about the structural problems confronted by the global energy market now and some discussion of probably the way forward, how we work together to try to stabilise the market, what can be done, and what could be done shorter term," the U.S. official told reporters travelling with Cheney.

The source said Cheney and King Abdullah also talked about what needed to be done "over the medium to longer term".

Cheney met the Saudi king on Friday for talks expected to include cooperation to stablise the oil market.

Oil prices have risen to record highs above $100 a barrel because investors have piled into commodities as the value of the U.S. dollar has sharply fallen. The price fell below $100 on Thursday on fears of a U.S. economic slowdown.

Cheney's trip follows a visit to Saudi Arabia by President George W. Bush, who in January called for crude oil exporters' group OPEC to increase production.

Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, is the world's top oil exporter and the only OPEC member that can easily add significant amounts of extra oil to the market.

(Writing by Tabassum Zakaria)