The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Eng. Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi delivered here today a speech at the annual meeting of Association of Graduates of Massachusetts Institute for Technology in which he dealt with the situation in the world oil market and the Kingdom's oil policy.
Al-Naimi pointed out that the Kingdom has the largest oil reserve in the world amounting to 261 billion barrels, an equivalent of one-fourth of the world reserves. He added that there is a possibility that the Kingdom [could increase its estimated reserves] by almost 200 billion barrels through new discoveries or an increase in oil produced from current fields. This huge reserve entitles the Kingdom to continue as a major oil producer for the next 70 to 100 years, even on the assumption that the Kingdom raises its producing capacity to 15 million barrels a day - which might happen during the next 15 years.
In this regard, the minister said this relative characteristic was used to expand the building of power generation utilities for industrial, commercial and consuming purposes as well as in the field of water desalination and oil refining.
He drew the attention to the following aspects: the provision of gas as a feeder for petrochemical industries, enabling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to occupy a leading place among the world's top petrochemical producers. In this regard, the gas productivity capacity was doubled from three billion cubic feet to seven billion cubic feet per day, he said, adding that the Kingdom's reserves of non-associate gas increased by 54 trillion cubic feet over the last ten years, bringing to 97 trillion cu. ft. the Kingdom's total non-associate gas reserves. This led to a total of associate and non-associate gas reserves of 237 cu. ft, making the Kingdom the world's fourth gas producer.
On gas exploration, the minister said four agreements with giant gas exploring companies were recently signed. They were granted concessions in the empty quarter area, he said.
The minister disclosed that work is currently underway to exploit phosphate ore, natural gas and sulfur in the northern parts of the country, a giant step expected to boost the Saudi economy.
The above mentioned minerals will enable the Kingdom to establish more and more developed fertilizers factories, the minister said and predicted that the Kingdom will take a place among the world's leading fertilizers producers and exporters before the end of the current decade.
Moreover, the bauxite mine in the north central region of the Kingdom will pave the way for the establishment of an advanced aluminum industry, Alnaimi said, adding that a new industrial city will be constructed north of Jubail in Ras Alzoar area.
He said the Saudi oil policy, which is reflected in the Kingdom's positions within OPEC, receives the world community's great attention and interest.
He said OPEC has now become a pivotal player in the stability of oil market and maintenance of the interests of oil producing countries.
The decisions by OPEC are taken based on market data and according to introduced economic reports topped by the report of OPEC's secretary general, he said.
He highlighted Saudi efforts to bolster cooperating between oil producing and consuming nations and said Saudi Arabia effectively contributed to boosting dialogue, understanding and cooperation between the two sides.
He said Saudi Arabia is interested in working for the stability of the international oil market and building close working relations based on economic fundamentals between it and oil producing countries specifically with OPEC member countries and between producing and consuming countries to eliminate any misunderstanding and work together for the stability and transparency of the market.
He explained that the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources works in the field of oil, gas and minerals with complete transparency adding that the aim is the prosperity and growth of the country.
