RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said Saturday that the Kingdom has enough spare crude capacity to meet any increased global demand or potential supply shortage in the market. There is a balance between supply and demand in the market, which has enough inventories, Al-Naimi said in remarks carried by Saudi Press Agency. The comments mark the latest effort by Saudi Arabia to reassure the market in the wake of rising anxiety over the Libya outages. Current high prices are caused primarily by speculation, misinformation and unjustified fear about the future of supply and demand, he said, according to SPA. Saudi Arabia is ready to meet demand from Asian countries or any other consuming nations, he added. Oil prices have risen sharply in recent weeks as political upheaval in North Africa has spread from Egypt and Tunisia into Libya, a major oil exporter. Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have said they will make up for any shortfall in Libyan output, but markets remain edgy. World oil prices jumped Friday to their highest levels in more than two years as the market was driven by simmering political tensions in the Arab world and concern over elections in Nigeria. New York's main contract soared to $112.91 -a level last seen in September 2008, before pulling back to $112.79, up $2.49 from Thursday. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May ended the day at $126.65, up $3.98 from Thursday's closing level. Prices rose sharply this week on the back of violent unrest in Libya, popular unrest in the wider Middle East, and as the dollar has weakened against the euro. All eyes are focused on Libya and the news for those looking for a quick resumption of supplies and lower oil prices is not good," said PVM Oil analyst David Hufton.
