Saudi Arabia's Minister of energy, industry and mineral resources, Khalid al-Falih, said Sunday that Saudi Arabia went beyond its commitment to lower both the production and exports of oil over the last couple of months, Trend reports referring to Al Arabiya.
Speaking at the third edition of the Atlantic Council Global energy forum, which took place in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, Al-Falih addressed Riyadh’s position on the volatile oil market.
Following the 1.2 million cut which came into effect at the beginning of January, according to al-Falih, “secondary sources suggest that OPEC production in December was already more than 600,000 barrels per day lower than November.”
“As the new 1.2 million barrel cut materializes, we should start to see the impact positively reflected in inventories”, he added.
Responding to the market concerns about potential oil demand as producers try to reverse massive dips in price at the end of 2018, al-Falih assured that the oil market is on the right track and will soon return to its balance.
“If we look beyond the noise of weekly data and vibrations in the market, and the speculators’ herd-like behavior, I remain convinced that we are on the right track and that the oil market will quickly return to balance,” he said.
In addition to discussing the current volatile oil market, al-Faleh also tapped on Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 project, saying that Vision 2030 is now moving from the planning to the implementation phase, and assuring that “the investment opportunities being unleashed are enormously attractive across virtually all sectors and services”.
Al-Falih also shed light on the field of sustainably, stating that the kingdom has already witnessed incredible progress, and that over the coming decade, liquids burning in utilities will be near eliminated.
According to al-Falih, the kingdom is also set on becoming the second largest phosphate producer globally, and a top global aluminum producer, in addition to increasing Gold production by 10 fold. All these shifts in the mineral sector is expected to generate 250 thousand new jobs in the year 2030, adding 67 billion annually to the kingdom’s GDP.
In an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya English, on Saturday, January 11, US Special Representative for Iran and Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of State, Brian Hook, said that the Saudi Energy Ministry, specifically Khalid al-Falih, had been very helpful in increasing production as the US was taking off over a million barrels of Iranian crude between May and November.
“When the President announced that he’s leaving the Iran deal in May, oil was at $74. When we re-imposed sanctions, six months later, we took off roughly a million barrels of Iranian crude, and oil went to $72,” he said.
Hook added that the US was able to do so, because of the close cooperation with Saudi Arabia, who has helped ensure a stable and well supplied oil market.