“Demand for oil is continuing to rise”, Al-Naimi told the Apicorp Energy Forum in the Bahraini capital Manama.
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Saudi Arabia, the kingpin of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is playing a key role in the stability of the oil markets and is eager to cooperate with all producers and exporters either inside or outside the cartel to maintain the stability of the market and price, said Mr. Naimi.
The Arab world consumes about nine million barrels of oil per day nearly 10% of the total global consumption since the Arab world has more than 56% of the world’s proven oil reserves and more than 27% of the world’s natural gas reserves.
Russian officials have accused Saudi Arabia of “dumping” its oil in Europe, a move that Rosneft chief Igor Sechin said would “backfire”. But the discount has widened to $3.50 lately due to increased competition from Saudi Arabia.
Oil prices on Friday dipped in a market burdened by a persistent oversupply of crude. This time, the market will see if OPEC members are willing to consider reducing the output quota of 30 million barrels per day – OPEC’s actual output, as shown in the above chart, is well above this target.
“US shale oil growth measured over last year’s levels is now coming to an end at last and given the infrastructure constraints in Iraq, plus an end to the upward trend in Saudi output it seems the phase of steadily rising OPEC production may be pausing for now as well”, he said.
“Large investments are required to meet such needs”.
It is an open question whether Mr al-Naimi’s soothing words will assuage Algeria, Venezuela, Libya, Nigeria, Iran, and others when they gather for a fractious Opec meeting in Vienna on December 4. The twin-effect could send prices plummeting to US$20 a barrel, the so-called “cash cost” that forces drillers to abandon production.
São Paulo – The Saudi Oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi, estimates that United States dollars 700 billion will be required to finance energy industry projects in the Middle East over the next ten years, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported this Thursday (19th). “2016 could witness a few (upward) correction in the oil market”, Neyadi told the conference.
“As you know, the economies of all Arab countries, including non-oil-producing countries, are closely interconnected in various areas such as trade, investment, tourism, and the movement of labor, which means that these economies are correlated to oil and gas production and price levels”, WAM quoted the minister as saying. This correlation is expected to continue for several decades bringing into focus the importance of the development as well as the vertical and horizontal expansion of the oil industry including the continuation of new oil discoveries. KPC is seeking to grow its refinery business in Asia and is talking to China and Indonesia.
He also said that the Vietnam refinery is 60 percent complete.
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Nickel hit its lowest in seven years at $US8,875 a tonne and ended down 1.7 per cent at $US8,950.
