Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said global supply and demand of crude oil are "stable and in balance." After meeting with Paolo Romani, Italy's industry minister, in Riyadh, Al-Naimi was quoted by SPA as also saying that "the Kingdom is ready to play a positive role to ensure the stability of the market." Oil markets are currently balanced and Saudi Arabia is prepared to help stabilize them, the Saudi oil minister said Saturday. "The Kingdom is ready to play its positive role for the stability of the market," he noted. The market is "currently characterized by a balance between supply and demand", Al-Naimi further said. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies raised their oil production in June after failing to convince other members to agree an increase in production to make up for the shutdown of Libyan oilfields since February. The Kingdom raised its oil production from 9.60 million barrels per day (bpd) in July to 9.76 million bpd in August but has not decided yet how much to pump after the restart of Libyan oilfields, a senior Gulf OPEC delegate said in September. Oil prices slumped Friday on renewed global economic worries, pushing back Brent more than 10 percent this month for its biggest quarterly decline in five quarters. US crude futures fared even worse, posting their weakest quarterly performance since the financial crisis of 2008 as a wobbly economy sparked more demand worries. Crude futures fell with a broad array of commodities, led by copper, which with US equities tumbled to its worst quarter since 2008. In London, ICE crude for November delivery settled at $102.76 a barrel, dropping $1.19, or 1.14 percent, after touching a session low of $101.78. For the quarter, Brent crude fell $9.72, or 8.64 percent, the biggest percentage loss since the second quarter of 2010. For the month, front-month Brent dropped $12.09, or 10.53 percent, the biggest monthly decline since May 2010. US November crude settled at $79.20 a barrel, falling $2.94, after dropping to an intraday low of $78.77. For the quarter, US crude fell $16.22, or 17 percent, the biggest percentage loss since the fourth quarter of 2008. For the month, it dropped $9.61, or 10.82 percent, the biggest monthly decline since May 2010. Brent's premium against US crude rose back to $23.56, after dropping to $21.81 Thursday.
