and mainly Saudi Arabia's-readily available capacity which eased the supply shortfalls during the Iranian revolution in 1979, the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, FSU's production decline in the early nineties, the Venezuelan strikes of 2002, the Iraq war in 2003, intermittent Nigerian civil strife, and the Gulf of Mexico hurricanes in 2005 to name just a few such interruptions. Based on our long experience with global markets and our policy of keeping adequate excess capacity in the range of 1.5- 2 million barrels per day at all times, we have embarked on a program of massive investments estimated at around $18 billion, that will expand crude oil production capacity to reach 12.5 million bpd by 2009. These plans entail bringing on stream increments totaling 2.35 million barrels per day from seven fields. Around 1.5 million barrels per day will be net additions to capacity, 1.1 million bpd of which will be of Arab Light quality while the rest will consist of Arab Extra and Arab Super Light Crudes. The rest of the additions are intended to augment existing capacities including the offsetting of natural decline. In addition to these investments, an estimated $2 billion is spent annually to maintain capacity and offset natural decline. --More
