The Saudis raised output again last month so keeping pressure on oil prices and thus shale drillers, Iran, Russia, Brazil, and other producing nations.
The kingdom, which led the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries last year in refusing to cut output, produced 10.3 million
barrels a day last month and will keep pumping for now at around 10
million, al-Naimi said Tuesday at a conference in Riyadh. The March
figure is the highest since at least 2002, when the Joint Organisations
Data Initiative began compiling output statistics.
OPEC will not cut production without cooperation from non-OPEC
producers, al-Naimi said. Supply from Saudi Arabia, the biggest in OPEC,
has added to a global glut that reduced oil prices by almost half since
June. Russia is pumping oil at a rate close to the post-Soviet record,
and the U.S. will produce the most crude since 1972 this year.
The kingdom, which led the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries last year in refusing to cut output, produced 10.3 million
barrels a day last month and will keep pumping for now at around 10
million, al-Naimi said Tuesday at a conference in Riyadh. The March
figure is the highest since at least 2002, when the Joint Organisations
Data Initiative began compiling output statistics.
OPEC will not cut production without cooperation from non-OPEC
producers, al-Naimi said. Supply from Saudi Arabia, the biggest in OPEC,
has added to a global glut that reduced oil prices by almost half since
June. Russia is pumping oil at a rate close to the post-Soviet record,
and the U.S. will produce the most crude since 1972 this year.
