Saudi seeks return of a ‘fair’ oil price

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet said it will work “alone” and with oil consumers and producers to restore “fair” prices for crude, according to a state news agency.

The kingdom, the world’s largest crude exporter, seeks fair prices because of the negative impact that may stem from an increase in energy prices for the world economy, the cabinet said after its weekly meeting, according to a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. The oil price Saudi Arabia wants should be fair to consumers, producers and the oil industry, it said, without mentioning any figure.

Saudi Arabia, which holds most of the world’s spare oil production capacity, is under pressure to boost output and calm prices. Brent oil futures have gained 17 percent so far this year, in part because of concern about supply spurred by U.S. and European tensions with Iran over its nuclear program. Brent traded at $125.47 a barrel at 4:28 p.m. London time.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, a member of the cabinet, had said in a Jan. 16 interview with CNN that the country hopes to “stabilize” oil prices at about $100 a barrel this year.

The country will seek to provide sufficient crude supplies for a balanced market, according to Monday’s cabinet statement.

As much as 1 million barrels a day of exports from Iran, the second-biggest member of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries, may be lost as embargoes enforced by the U.S. and Europe hinder consumers from buying its oil, the International Energy Agency said March 14.

The kingdom pumped 9.87 million barrels a day in January, its second-highest monthly output since at least 1980, according to data the government submitted to the Joint Organization Data Initiative published Sunday. It pumped 9.81 million barrels of oil in December and 10.05 million barrels in November, according to the website. The November figure was the highest for at least 31 years, according to data from the U.S. Energy Department.

Saudi Arabia has said it has the capacity to produce as much as 12.5 million barrels a day. OPEC has excess effective capacity of 2.75 million barrels of oil a day, the Paris-based IEA said, citing a figure that excludes Iraq, Nigeria, Libya and Venezuela.

The U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, has received assurances from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait that they would raise oil production to help offset the effect of economic sanctions on Iranian exports, participants in discussions between the U.S. and oil-producing countries said last week on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. 

(Bloomberg)