Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – Saudi Arabia is concerned about rising oil prices in the international market and the current high price of oil is simply not supported by market fundamentals, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said Monday. “The current high price of oil is simply not supported by market fundamentals. The market is well balanced, forward cover remains within an acceptable range and inventories are more than adequate,” Naimi said in a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA). “Saudi Arabia will, as always, take all necessary steps to ensure the market is well supplied and to help moderate prices, and we will meet any additional demand from our customers,” he said. “We will continue to work in collaboration with other Gulf Cooperation Council nations, and with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to defend the stability of the oil market,” he added. Oil prices rose Monday on hopes of more US financial stimulus aimed at boosting the world's biggest economy, a prospect that was helping to offset disappointing Chinese data, analysts said. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October gained 73 cents to $114.98 a barrel in London morning trade. Saudi Arabia in March reportedly became the world's largest oil producer after increasing its production to 9.923 million barrels per day, topping Russia's output of 9.920 million. Naimi has previously said he considered $100 a barrel to be the ideal price for brent to balance the needs of consumers and producers. Saudi Arabia produced about 9.7 million barrels a day of crude in August, down from 9.8 million barrels a day in July, slightly below its average production levels of 9.94 million barrels a day in the first half of 2012.
But the Kingdom is likely to pump more crude than it supplies to the market in the fourth quarter. – With agencies
