WASHINGTON - Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said Tuesday his country is prepared to boost output "as the market dictates," while adding that high or unstable prices "are not in the interest of producers."
"Saudi Arabia's reserves are plentiful and we stand ready to increase output as the market dictates," the Saudi minister said at a Washington conference on energy.
"Saudi Arabia has already taken aggressive steps to ensure adequate supplies."
Nuaimi added that "very high or unstable (oil) prices are not in the interest of producers."
But he also said the market volatility cannot be blamed solely on producing countries, adding that consuming nations like the United States should do more to unblock bottlenecks due to a lack of refining capacity and burdensome regulation.
"Achieving stable global markets requires a global solution," he said.
The Saudi minister was joined by US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman at a conference sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on global energy supply, demand, and policy.
Nuaimi said in April that his country might manage to add 200 billion barrels to its crude reserves.
He said the desert kingdom's huge reserves will enable it to remain a major oil producer for between 70 and 100 years, even if it raises production capacity to 15 million bpd, "which may well happen during the next 15 years."
He said earlier this year that Saudi Arabia planned to raise its capacity to 12.5 million bpd from 11 million now within four years.
05/17/2005 13:59 GMT