* Saudi Arabia unhappy with high oil prices
* Top oil exporter says supply plentiful
* OPEC, non-OPEC producers pumping more
(Adds details)
By Meeyoung Cho
SEOUL, April 13 (Reuters) – Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is
determined to bring down high oil prices and is working with
fellow OPEC members to accomplish that, Oil Minister Ali
al-Naimi said on Friday.
Brent crude has risen about 13 percent this year,
trading above $120 a barrel on Friday, threatening a nascent
recovery of the global economy. Oil has traded above $100 for
all but a couple of days in the past year.
“We are seeing a prolonged period of high oil prices,” Naimi
said in a statement during a visit to Seoul. “We are not happy
about it. (The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) is determined to see a
lower price and is working towards that goal.”
The influential Saudi oil minister earlier this year
identified $100 a barrel as an ideal price for producers and
consumers earlier this year.
Concern of a supply shortage due to production problems in
some producing countries and as U.S. and European sanctions
target exports from OPEC’s second-largest producer Iran have
helped keep Brent crude well above that mark.
Naimi reiterated that there were no supply shortages in the
global oil market and the kingdom stood ready to use its spare
production capacity if necessary.
Saudi Arabia is pumping 10 million barrels per day, he said.
Output at that level would be the highest since November, when
the kingdom produced more oil than it had done for decades.
Naimi reiterated that production capacity stands at 12.5 million
bpd.
“The story is one of plenty,” he said. “Supply is not the
problem.”
Fellow OPEC producers Libya, Iraq and Angola have increased
output, Naimi said. Non-OPEC members including Canada, the
United States and Russia had also boosted supplies, he added.
Saudi stockpiles at home and abroad were full, he added.
Inventories in industrialised countries were also filling up, he
said.
“Fundamentally the market remains balanced — there is no
lack of supply,” he said.
The International Energy Agency said on Thursday that the
oil market had broken a two-year cycle of tightening supply
conditions as demand growth weakens and top exporter Saudi
Arabia increases output.
The agency, which advises industrialised nations on their
energy policies, said increased supply and slowing demand growth
might already point to a significant rise in global oil stocks.
Stubbornly high oil prices could be expected to ease when
markets woke up to the shift in trend, it added.
(Writing by Randy Fabi and Manash Goswami; Editing by Ed Davies
and Simon Webb)
