Oil supply should be increased to meet the developmental demands of Arabian Gulf countries, an Aramco official said at a conference in Doha on Tuesday. Adil Al-Tubayyeb, Saudi Aramco's Vice President for marketing, supply and joint venture coordination, said that rising demand for refined products in the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea, the result of regional population growth and an economic boom, makes it necessary to increase supply. His comments came in a keynote speech he delivered at the 16th Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference, held in Doha Tuesday. In the speech, which he titled “transformations in the Middle Eastern energy markets,” Tubayyeb said it is imperative to transform Middle Eastern markets to meet that demand. “Turning the region into a center for marketing petroleum products,” he said, “will require the development of infrastructure and the establishment of region-specific price indicators, independent of the price indicators that serve global markets far from the region.” “The 75th anniversary (of Saudi Aramco) gives us an opportunity to contemplate what we have accomplished in the past and to develop a future vision for our operations,” he said. “To us, this occasion, which brings to mind past accomplishments, represents an incentive to face future challenges.” “Our history of 75 years in the oil industry, and the experiences we gained from all those decades,” he continued, “gives us prudence and wisdom in dealing with the many variables of the energy industry. We will use the experience gained over those years to make the right decisions as we implement future projects.” Dr. Muhammad Bin Saleh Al-Sadah, Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry Affairs, had opened the conference under the patronage of Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Second Deputy Premier and Minister for Energy and Industry in Qatar. The theme of the conference was “Middle East oil markets, fundamentals, geopolitics vs. geology.” The conference brought together numerous government and industry leaders and decision-makers from many countries, who exchanged ideas, discussing such topics as supply and demand, the roles of OPEC and oil refineries and rising production costs. In his opening speech, Al-Sadah said fossil fuels are expected to dominate as the main source of energy for the foreseeable future, adding that demand for energy is expected to rise significantly. “Three-quarters of the increase in demand,” he said, “is expected to come from developing nations such as China and India. Saudi Aramco's affiliates in Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing participated in sponsoring the conference and coordinated sideline meetings between Saudi Aramco officials and customers attending the conference. Awwad A. Al-Harthi, marketing manager at Saudi Petroleum overseas Ltd. in Tokyo, chaired one of the sessions. __
