Wednesday, Aug 24, 2011
By Summer Said
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
RIYADH (Dow Jones)--Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is likely to produce a daily average 9.8 million barrels of crude in August due to robust demand from Asia and domestically, officials from the Gulf country familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
"So far there are signs that oil production this month will reach about 9.8 million barrels a day," one official told Dow Jones Newswires.
Saudi Arabia pledged in June to raise its output to as much 10 million barrels a day, after the loss of Libyan oil supplies and as a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries broke up with no decision on how to guide crude-oil production.
The kingdom then raised its output to an average 9.85 million barrels a day in July, a senior Saudi oil official said earlier this month. That is the country's highest level since the early 1980s, when the revolution in Iran and its subsequent war with Iraq stopped the vast majority of Tehran's production.
"Saudi Arabia isn't worried about the demand picture, which still looks strong in the second half of this year and in 2012," another official said.
Oil futures came under pressure recently amid further worries that economic uncertainty is damaging demand for oil projects and near-term consumption. Monday, prices fell further as investors reacted to news that rebel forces had entered Libya's capital Tripoli, fueling hopes that the country's six-month-long conflict is nearing an end.
Senior Gulf OPEC officials said Monday that Saudi Arabia, OPEC's leading oil producer, will adjust its oil export levels if needed as Libya resumes its own oil production, though the cartel expects Libya's output recovery after Col. Moammar Gadhafi's reign will be slow and gradual.
OPEC officials said the group currently sees no need for an emergency meeting to discuss the situation. The group's next scheduled output-policy meeting is Dec. 14 in Vienna.
Libya is a major oil exporter and produces a type of crude that is particularly coveted. The popular uprising in the North African nation this year cut off its roughly 1.3 million barrels of daily oil supplies. Experts say the country could take up to three years to return to its pre-war production capacity.
-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842373; summer.said@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
24-08-11 1216GMT
