Saudi Arabia can meet market demand 

(MENAFN - Arab News) Saudi Arabia has the ability to meet existing and future demand for oil, said Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi yesterday seeking to alleviate concerns about supply.

He said that oil prices remain high and that he wished to see them at a lower level.

"They are still high and we would like to see Brent at 100 dollars," he said, adding that the "market determines the prices."

Al-Naimi said the Kingdom has been pumping crude "based on demand," adding that production varied between 9.7 million bpd and 10.1 million bpd this year.

"Sometimes 9.7 (million bpd), other times 9.9 (million bpd)... The highest this year it was 10.1 million barrels a day," he said.

Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, was trading above 113 a barrel in London yesterday.

"We will provide the markets with what they need," Al-Naimi said. "We will work to moderate prices."

Al-Naimi's comments came at the end of a meeting of Gulf petroleum officials in Riyadh. "Our countries have exerted major efforts to restore global oil market stability, a feat that has actually been achieved," Al-Naimi said during the meeting earlier.

"Stability has been restored and oil prices returned to levels which are suitable to both the consuming and producing nations and to the global economy and its growth," he said.

He also announced the discovery of a new gas field 26 km to the north of Dhuba port in the Red Sea