Gulf oil producers led by Saudi Arabia pledge oil capacity hikes

Gulf oil producers led by Saudi Arabia pledge oil capacity hikes

Abu Dhabi (Platts)--11Oct2004


Persian Gulf oil producers Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates
pledged Sunday to bring on additional spare capacity to meet rising demand for
crude oil though their ministers asserted there was no justification for
current record high oil prices. 

Ali Naimi, oil minister of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, blamed tight supplies of sweet crudes and the lack of refining
capacity for sour grades as the causes behind record spikes in world
benchmarks. "There is absolutely no justification for prices at current
levels," Naimi told reporters on the sidelines of an oil and gas exhibition in
the UAE capital. He pledged to maintain spare production capacity 1.5-mil to
2-mil b/d for "the foreseeable future" and to invest in new production
capacity beyond the current 11-mil b/d if need be. The kingdom is producing
nearly 9.5-mil b/d and could bring on another 1.5-mil b/d "immediately," he
said.

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