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Saudi Arabia has plenty of spare oil production capacity, its energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said at International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC), after the world's biggest oil exporter announced surprise plans late last month to scale back its long-term capacity expansion plans.
Energy minister said, "We are ready to tweak up or downwards at any time, whatever market necessity dictates."
The 16th edition of IPTC, hosted by Aramco, taking place at the Dhahran Expo, KSA from February 12-14, focusing on sustainable energy supply.
Saudi Arabia's government on January 30 ordered state oil company Aramco 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. -Reuters