Saudi Arabia increased oil production in March to the highest in at least 12 years and expects crude prices to rise in the “near future,” said Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi.

The minister was inaugurating the 18th annual meeting of Saudi Economy Association (SEA) in Riyadh.

Th event motto was Economies of the Energy.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, deputy minister of petroleum and mineral resources, the honorary chairman of the association and a number of experts in the domain of the economies of energy were also present at the event.

The Kingdom produced 10.3 million barrels a day last month and will keep pumping for now at around 10 million, Al-Naimi said.

“Prices will improve in the near future,” he said.

“The challenge is to restore the supply-demand balance and reach price stability. This requires the cooperation of non-OPEC major producers, just as it did in the 1998-99 crisis,” said the minister.

Minister Al-Naimi said that the Kingdom’s oil reserves amount to 267 billion barrels while the producible amount of natural gas reaches 300 trillion cu.ft. and the refining capacity inside and outside the Kingdom top to five million barrels per day.

He said Saudi Arabia treats the OPEC as the most important oil organization.

Saudi Arabia is also an active and effective member of a number of international oil and energy organizations, such as OAPEC, International Energy Forum and participate in international forums about environment issues, climate change.

The minister reaffirmed the Kingdom’s oil foreign policy as moderate as it aims at striking a balance between the present and the future, between corroborating the national income and maintaining its stake at the world market and keeping oil as a main source of energy.

Al-Naimi recalled that when the prices began to slump, due to various factors, the Kingdom made it clear to its OPEC members that it is ready to reduce its production, provided that a just and credible mechanism is established.

“Joint action at the world level is a must, hence, we run a series of extensive contacts, shuttling visits and meetings to strike a deal, but the main producers from outside OPEC were either not willing or not capable of reducing their outputs,” he said, adding that the OPEC member states declared, unanimously, to keep the level of the output to defend its stake, in the market to prevent yielding it to the advantage of the other exporters.

“We are not in competition with anyone, neither with shale producers nor others,” he stressed.

The minister said Saudi Arabia’s plan goes beyond giving more interest to oil-related industries. It will strive to become an international center for raw materials, services industry, oil research new patents and innovation, he said.