Saudi Arabia is raising oil production
Saudi Arabia is raising production and pressingahead with a global expansion plan for its state oilcompany ahead of what could be the world’s largestever stock market listing.
In some of the first comments on -Riyadh’s oil policysince a government reshuffle at the weekend, AminNasser, Saudi Aramco chief executive, emphasisedthe company’s willingness to compete with rivals, putting on notice rival oil producers fromregional adversary Iran to the US shale sector.
“Whatever the call on Saudi Aramco, we will meet it,” he said during a rare media visit to thegroup’s headquarters in Dhahran. “There will always be a need for additional production.Production will increase in 2016.”
Saudi Aramco, which pumps more than one in every eight barrels of crude globally, is at thecentre of a reform programme being pushed by Prince Mohammed, who has emerged as theman holding the levers of power in Saudi Arabia. He believes a planned -initial public offering ofless than 5 per cent of the company could value Saudi Aramco at more than $2tn.
The reform plan — Vision 2030 — aims to end the country’s dependence on oil within 15years, leveraging the assets of the state oil company to fund wide-ranging investments todiversify its economy.
Saudi Arabia’s new oil minister Khalid al-Falih, former chief executive and -current chairman ofAramco, spoke of “stability” in the kingdom’s oil policy on his first day in the job, but he alsoindicated a willingness use the country’s “maximum sustainable capacity” to meet customerdemand.
Last year Saudi Arabia’s crude output averaged 10.2m b/d, Mr Nasser said, the highest annuallevel on record. Any increase in 2016 could supplant high-cost output in other parts of theworld, which has started to decline after almost two years of falling prices.