No need to panic, petroleum supply is adequate - Al Naimi
By Karen Remo-Listana
Posted: 30 May 2005
There is no need for panic - the world is not running out of oil any time soon, said HE Ali Al-Naimi, Saudi Aramco’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco , California last week.
But to meet growing demand, Al-Naimi said that by 2009, the Kingdom expects to raise its production from the current 11.0 million bpd to 12.5 million bpd.
 Saudi Arabia currently has sustainable crude production capacity of about 11 million mpd, which includes a spare capacity cushion of about 1.5 million mpd. In addition, Saudi Arabia has initiated a number of mega oil projects which will significantly increase its production capacity to both meet demand and maintain spare capacity. These projects represent a combined production capacity of more than 3 million bpd, part of which will be utilized to offset natural decline and the rest to expand capacity.
“Talk of shortages is not new,” he said. “In 1970, it was predicted that the world was fast approaching an era of oil scarcity bit in a contrary world oil reserves continued to grow, from about 550 billion barrels in 1970 to more than 1.2 trillion barrels today.”
He saidthis increase is all the more remarkable given the fact that the world consumed over 800 billion barrels during this period. In the case of Saudi Arabia, its proven reserves were estimated to be about 88 billion barrels in 1970.
“Today, we conservatively estimate them at more than 264 billion barrels, despite the intervening 35 years of production. Last year alone we added more than 1.5 billion barrels to reserves, despite having produced over 3 billion barrels during this period.”
"The kingdom has long played a stabilizing role in oil markets," he said. "We have been there in times of disruption and shortage to provide additional supplies to the market and we will continue to be the world's most reliable supplier of energy…As evidence of this commitment, we are implementing a massive investment program that encompasses both upstream and downstream sectors."
Extending efforts to downstream business to increase world energy supplies, he said that " Saudi Arabia is increasing its capacity and upgrading capabilities at its existing refineries in the kingdom and in other major markets where we have a presence.” In addition, we are considering construction of new refineries inside the kingdom. We are also looking at building new refineries in other countries, which would be configured to handle sour and heavy crudes."
Posted by Editor Pipeline Magazine
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