Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali al-Naimi, who is the chairman of the 91st ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries in Doha, speaks at the Ritz-Carlton here yesterday.

HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada speaks at the 91st ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) in Doha. Al-Sada highlighted the important role played by OAPEC in enhancing Arab co-operation in various fields of energy to ensure the stability of global energy markets.

Bloomberg

Doha

Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq said Opec needn’t cut production next year to make room for additional supplies from Iran, Libya and US shale oil.

“I am optimistic the market will stay balanced and stable next year,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday in a speech at a meeting of Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries in Doha. “Shale oil is not posing any threat to Saudi Arabia and Opec,” he told reporters.

Commerzbank said in a December 10 report that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries would need to cut output should Iranian and Libyan production return to the market. Opec, content with current oil price levels, agreed at a December 4 meeting to keep the group’s crude output ceiling unchanged at least until June.

Iran is seeking to raise oil output to 4mn bpd, the country’s Oil Minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, said at the Opec meeting, after a November 24 agreement over its nuclear programme opened the door to an easing of sanctions.

Iran and world powers last month struck an initial accord that broke a decade-long diplomatic stalemate, setting limits on the country’s nuclear programme in exchange for about $7bn in relief from sanctions over six months. US shale oil is poised to increase the country’s crude production to 9.6mn bpd in 2016, a level it last reached in 1970, the US Energy Information Administration said on December 16.

“Opec can meet demand for years to come, so don’t make shale oil a scarecrow for Opec and other producers,” Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mustafa al-Shemali told reporters yesterday.

Libya is prepared to use force to reopen oil export ports that have been closed by rebel groups for the past five months, Oil Minister Abdulbari al-Arusi said yesterday. The shutdown has reduced Libyan output to 250,000 bpd from 1.4mn bpd in March.

“Supplies are in balance with demand so in reality there are no fears” over a surplus in the market, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said to reporters yesterday.

West Texas Intermediate crude climbed to a two-month high on Friday after a report showed the US economy expanded in the third quarter at a faster rate than previously estimated.