JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – An extraordinary meeting happens here Sunday along the shores of the Red Sea when the great powers of oil – producers, consumers, countries and companies – try to find a formula to break the global fever of oil prices.

The Saudi king says oil prices near $140 a barrel are too high, and he promises to raise oil production. The Chinese promise to raise gasoline prices closer to the world mark, which should chill the fastest-growing part of the demand picture.

The United States promises to press an investigation of whether speculators have manipulated oil prices.

The world's largest oil companies promise to invest more in refineries so more of the least-desirable oil can find a buyer.

Yet despite all this, the analyst community predicts this meeting will change little as traders peg oil prices to expectations that there won't be enough to go around in coming years.

"The Saudis would really have to put forth credible evidence that they have a fair amount of spare capacity or a fair amount coming in the future," said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at SMU's Cox School of Business. "And another key is, are there any other OPEC countries that can make that argument, too? In my opinion, the Saudis can't do that alone."

Seven months ago, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah argued $100 oil wasn't out of line with historic highs. In January, he rebuffed a personal request from President Bush to produce more oil. When Mr. Bush asked again in May, the Saudis increased production by about 3 percent, but U.S. gasoline prices soared ahead to break the $4-a-gallon threshold.

With riots, strikes and inflation spreading around the world, the king two weeks ago issued an urgent invitation to the world's oil powers to a meeting at the lavish Hilton Hotel over the shoreline cornice of Jeddah to stop the price spike.

Saudi assistant oil minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, the king's nephew, said the kingdom can't do it alone when speculators and a weak U.S. dollar have played a major role in increasing prices.

"The soaring oil prices require immediate intervention by everyone," he said. "Combined solutions are needed where roles are defined."

It is difficult to see how combined solutions will emerge from a one-day meeting of 35 nations divided between producers (including Mexico) and consumers, along with the CEOs of the largest oil companies.

The U.S. government has historically been wary of participating in any meetings with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at the table because of the price-fixing implications. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is attending, but Mr. Bush declined and is sending Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The presence of the CEOs of Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, France's Total and Brazil's Petrobras at a meeting focused on oil prices would ordinarily raise antitrust alarms in Washington.

But these are not ordinary times. Oil prices have doubled in the last year, and investment banks such as Goldman Sachs have predicted $150-a-barrel oil this summer and warned that a spike to $200-a-barrel is possible.

In a meeting with reporters on Saturday, Mr. Bodman said the fundamental reason for a tripling of oil prices in the last five years was rising demand and flat supply, and he urged oil producers to raise production immediately and invest in increasing future productive capacity.

"For every 1 percent increase in demand, we would expect a 20 percent increase in price to balance the market," he said.

Mr. Bodman said the federal government had not given any special dispensation for the largest U.S. oil companies to participate in a global meeting on oil prices.

"The companies we expect will be here complying with U.S. law, and antitrust is an important component of U.S. law," he said.

The Saudis intend to use the Jeddah meeting as a platform for signing a refinery deal with Total that would handle more of Saudi Arabia's least desirable oil – thick, sulfur-heavy crude oil that needs enhanced refining to deliver gasoline and diesel.

The Saudis have several refinery projects under way in the kingdom and abroad – including a $7 billion one with Shell at Port Arthur – aimed at handling these types of crude oil.

Market forecasters worry that the Saudi expansion won't be enough to offset growing demand for oil in China, India and other parts of the developing world that account for the lion's share of world economic growth.

Tens of millions of Chinese consumers who've seen their incomes rise in the last 25 years are buying their first automobiles. Last week's decision by the Chinese government to curb subsidies by raising prices on gasoline and diesel fuel by 18 percent – putting gasoline at roughly $3 a gallon – was seen as a brake on rising Chinese oil demand.

Mr. Bodman praised the Chinese for raising prices and said more nations should follow suit. "About 30 million barrels a day, roughly, of oil is consumed in nations that subsidize gasoline," he said. "That's simply too much."

With Saudi oil exports bringing in about $1 billion a day, it may seem as if the king is shedding crocodile tears. The Saudis insist they want oil price stability, however, and they worry the price of oil is destroying demand for their only natural resource.

"They know these prices aren't good for them," said Jim Oberwetter, a Dallas business consultant who was the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia until last year. "A couple months ago, for the first time, the king said, 'This is our national patrimony. We want to maintain some of this patrimony for our children and their children and their future.' "

The oil powers know that oil selling for almost $140 a barrel is already shifting the thirst of the automobile and truck industries to vehicles powered by electricity, hydrogen and biofuels.

Cambridge Energy Research Associates last week said that U.S. gasoline demand may have turned around for good in 2007 as American motorists drive less and shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles.

"If you look at GM [General Motors] three years ago, they were celebrating the Hummer, and now they're talking about selling it," CERA chairman and oil historian Dan Yergin said. "They are changing strategies to focus on the electric car."

Honda last week started assembly-line production of a hydrogen-powered car, the FCX Clarity. Hybrid sales are soaring, while sales of pickups and SUVs are in the doldrums.

The Saudis will have to convince financial markets that they have the production capacity to go to 10 million barrels a day this year – up 2 million barrels from where they were producing a year ago – and the reserves to keep the oil age alive.

That is a tall order when traders increasingly subscribe to peak oil theories that postulate production has reached its limits.

New Saudi oilfields scheduled to be available this year with 750,000 barrels a day in production capacity have slipped months behind schedule. The Saudis insist they will complete work next year to raise capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day.

King Abdullah told U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon that Saudi Arabia would raise production 200,000 barrels a day in July – "a drop in the bucket," said Bob Ebel, an oil analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"When you look at all the issues, there's really not much they can do," he said. "I hope expectations [for the Jeddah meeting] don't get too high. If they do, a lot of consumers are going to be disappointed."

Yet the high profile of this meeting means the Saudis have a great deal riding on the outcome.

"It would be incredibly embarrassing in many dimensions to have this flop," Mr. Yergin said. "Everybody's scrambling around to figure out what is it they can actually do."