Saudi Arabia reiterates promise to meet world crude demand

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia reiterated promises to continue meeting consumer demand for world crude as it prepared to inaugurate a new oil production plant with a capacity of 800,000 bpd.
The new Qatif Producing Plants programme, operated by the Saudi national oil giant Aramco, "will serve the kingdom's strategy of guaranteeing a continuous supply of energy to meet consumer demand worldwide," Aramco chairman Abdullah Juma said in a statement.

The plant, inaugurated on December 26, will also provide 370 mm cf (10 mm cm) of associated gas, the company said.
The onshore part of the field has the capacity to provide 500,000 bpd of Arabian Light Crude. The offshore Abu-Sa'fah field contains an estimated 6.1 bn barrels of oil reserves and will produce 300,000 bpd of Arabian Medium Crude, it added.

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said that the kingdom has made plans to increase its oil production capacity to 12.5 mm bpd from the current 11 mm over the next few years.
The desert kingdom sits on a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves.