Saudi vows to cover any global oil shortage

Published December 11, 2015

A Saudi petrochemical facility in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, on November 12, 2007. Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi has told reporters that Riyadh will compensate for any shortage in global energy markets. (AFP/File)

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia will compensate for any shortage in global energy markets, its Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters Tuesday.

"We are ready to compensate for any shortfall in the oil market," said Naimi on the sidelines of a meeting with his Gulf counterparts in Riyadh.

Naimi said, however, that "the market is good, reserves are excellent, and supplies are adequate and stable."

He did not give figures for the kingdom's production, which sources in the industry estimate at 10 million barrels per day, but said that "our production capacity is 12.5 million bpd."

The minister's remarks come as global oil prices retreated on Tuesday with news of recovering output in Iraq and Libya.

Officials from Iraq, the second largest producer in oil cartel OPEC, were Monday quoted as saying that the country had restored normal output after completing repair work on a pipeline leak.

In Libya, production resumed following a weeks-long blockade by guards at key Libyan oil terminals.

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