Briefing reporters on his meeting with the Saudi monarch late yesterday, Ban said they spent a great deal of time focusing on the link between soaring crude prices and the worsening food crisis as well as climate change.
"He acknowledged that the current oil prices are abnormally high due to speculative factors and some other national government policies," the UN secretary general said in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
"He is willing to what he can to (bring) the price of oil to adequate levels."
Ban said the Saudis, whose desert kingdom is the largest oil producer in OPEC, "seem to be considering very seriously how they can address this issue by increasing production."
"I expect that they will take some concrete measures," said Ban, who is due to wrap up his 24-hour visit to Saudi Arabia later today.
More From This Section
Saudi Arabia is organising a summit in Jeddah on June 22 for consumer and producers to discuss oil prices, which struck a record high of nearly $140 a barrel earlier this month, stoking fears of surging global inflation and weaker economic growth.
Ban, on his second visit to Saudi Arabia since March 2007, expressed hope that the Jeddah meeting would yield a productive outcome.
He also said he conveyed to the king the concern expressed by several world leaders, notably at the Rome food summit early this month, about the impact of the soaring prices on global food security.