Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve stability in the oil markets and permanently communicate with all the major producers, in an attempt to reduce volatility to reach a collective consensus and would welcome any collaborative work. "We remain committed to meeting a large part of global energy demand on a purely commercial basis, we do not seek to acquire a larger share in the market." the minister said. The remarks came in a speech he made today during Cambridge Energy Research Associates Week (CERA) in the city of Houston, Texas, on the international oil market, the challenges they face, petroleum policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the impact of climate change. He explained that during the seven decades he spent in the energy sector, a contemporary of a period in which the price of a barrel of oil does not exceed two dollars, the period in which the price jumped to $ 147, periods which have seen a lot of volatility he experienced, periods of abundant supplies and scarcity, and many periods of boom and bust, pointing out that he is a contemporary of the era of "peak oil production". All of these experiences and expertise combined taught him that this industry and this item, like other commodities, is affected by the conditions of market ups and downs inevitably, demand rises and falls, supply increases and decreases and prices go up and down; when the price of oil shot to around $ 100 a barrel, it seemed that price was reasonable, but historically it has been very high, he stated. This rate has contributed to the launch of more investment in oil fields around the world, which was not economically viable in the past, stretching from the Arctic to the Canadian oil sands, tar sands on the Orinoco belt of Venezuela, right down to the deep water limits, he said, adding that the rise in prices led to the development of shale oil resources, in parts of the United States, which contributed to the significant growth in traditional and non-traditional petroleum supplies in the world, then prices began to slide down the slope of slump. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said that he referred to the month of November 2014, specifically during the OPEC meeting, there was a clamor among several sides on the organization's intention to reduce their production to curb falling prices. But the oil market is much larger than OPEC. We have tried very hard to gather all parties, whether from within or from without of OPEC, in an effort to reach a collective agreement. But unfortunately the desire to bear part of the burden was lacked behind. So, we have left it to the market as the most effective way to restore the balance between supply and demand, he pointed. The solution was simple, as that: Let the market work and imposes its decision. The oil demand is and remains strong and what the controversy is about is no more than just a small percentage of ups and downs, but the bottom line, so to speak, is that global demand rates exceed 90 million barrels a day and will rise on Long-term, he remarked. Therefore I do not have any fears or concerns about demand, which leads me to welcome any new additional supplies, including Shale oil. -- more
