The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi said that, due to the concern of the Kingdom to preserve market stability and promote growth of the international economy – particularly for developing countries which would be more adversely affected by a sudden, significant increase in the oil price, Saudi Arabia will propose an increase of over two million barrels per day in the OPEC production ceiling and has already allocated approximately 9.0 million barrels per day to its customers as of June 2004.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Al-Naimi said that this proposal is a response to the current situation of the international oil market and the oil price increase to surmount the upper limit of OPEC’s reference price, and in view of the recent revisions in oil demand and supply projections for forthcoming months.
Al-Naimi said that Saudi Arabia would continue to monitor market developments and cooperate with OPEC to keep markets well supplied in order to maintain prices within the agreed range acceptable to producers and consumers and conducive to economic growth, particularly in developing countries.
The Minister noted that the forthcoming ninth International Energy Forum, which is to be held in Amsterdam in the next few days, will provide an opportunity for the exchange of views between producers and consumers regarding underlying causes of the recent oil price increase and means of promoting market stability.
Source: SPA
