Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.31/ Trend, A. Taghiyeva /
Saudi Arabia will meet any oil shortage on the world market due to large investments in increasing production, Al Arabiya TV channel quotes Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi as telling journalists on Tuesday.
He said the growth in gas production in Saudi Arabia guarantees a lack of impact for a growing demand for energy resources in the country on oil supply.
"Saudi Arabia will remain the main and most reliable supplier of oil to the world markets and that also applies to the future," Mr Al-Naimi said.
The foreign ministers of 27 EU countries approved an embargo on oil supplies from Iran on Jan. 23, accusing Tehran of unwillingness to comply with international requirements and clarify several issues on the national nuclear programme. Within the new package of sanctions it is supposed that by July 1, all European Union members purchasing oil from Tehran would have to stop completely importing oil from that country.
Last week, Iranian Parliamentary Energy Committee member Emad Hosseini said the Iranian parliamentarians may approve a bill to fully stop oil supplies from Iran to European countries before the embargo on Iranian oil supplies to the EU fully comes into force.
Saudi Arabia is a major supplier of oil to world markets. The Kingdom has increased production from 9.6 million barrels of oil per day in July up to 9.76 million barrels in August.