Saudi ready to cover ‘global oil shortage’

RIYADH - Agence France-Presse

The Oil Ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council meet in Riyadh. AFP Photo

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kingpin Saudi Arabia will compensate for any shortage in global energy markets, its Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters yesterday.

“We are ready to compensate for any shortfall in the oil market,” said Naimi on the sidelines of a meeting with his Gulf counterparts in Riyadh.

Naimi said, however, that “the market is good, reserves are excellent, and supplies are adequate and stable.”

He did not give figures for the kingdom’s production, which sources in the industry estimate at 10 million barrels per day, but said that “our production capacity is 12.5 million barrels per day.” The minister’s remarks come as global oil prices retreated yesterday with news of recovering output in Iraq and Libya.

Iraq restores normal output

Officials from Iraq, the second largest producer in oil cartel OPEC, were on Sept. 23 quoted as saying that the country had restored normal output after completing repair work on a pipeline leak.

In Libya, production resumed following a weeks-long blockade by guards at key Libyan oil terminals.