DHARAN: Saudi Arabia has plenty of spare oil production capacity, its energy minister said today after the world’s biggest oil exporter announced surprise plans late last month to scale back its long-term capacity expansion plans.
“We are ready to tweak up or downwards at any time, whatever market necessity dictates,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the IPTC petroleum technology conference in Dharan.
Saudi Arabia’s government on Jan 30 ordered state oil company Aramco 2222.SE to halt its oil expansion plan and to target a maximum sustained production capacity of 12 million barrels per day (bpd), 1 million bpd below a target announced in 2020.
“I think we postponed this investment simply because…we’re transitioning,” Prince Abdulaziz said, adding that Aramco has other investments to make, including in oil, gas, petrochemicals, and renewables.