JEDDAH, 17 August 2004 — Crown Prince Abdullah would like to see oil prices between $25 and $30 a barrel. He said that Saudi Arabia would pump “as much as the fields allow” to bring prices down and calm the volatile markets.
In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Seyassah and its sister publication Arab Times yesterday, Prince Abdullah said the world’s top crude exporter already was pumping oil at “record levels” to prevent prices from harming world economic growth. “We never wanted the price to cross the $30 barrier; we think that prices should fluctuate between $25 and $30 a barrel so that countries are not hurt,” said the crown prince. “We are not here talking about rich countries but poor ones which will suffer and whose development will halt because of high oil prices.”
Benchmark US oil futures, worth a premium over heavier OPEC crude, yesterday traded for a record high $46.91 a barrel. Saudi Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi said last week the Kingdom’s production had risen to an average of 9.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in the past three months and that crude requirements for September were at least that high.
Prince Abdullah said the Kingdom would pump “as much as our fields will allow in order to curb prices.” Western oil industry sources said they saw Saudi output at nearly 10 million bpd next month.
“We are doing our best to slow this trend by increasing our production which is at record high levels,” said the crown prince. “We can only increase our production; the rest is not in our hands.”
Naimi said last week Riyadh had 1.3 million bpd of production to spare and the crown prince also made clear that the Kingdom was ready to increase production. “We have the capacity to meet the demands of the market but I assure you, we have nothing to do with this price increase,” he said.
Prince Abdullah seemed to blame the price rise on certain oil companies. “I’d like to affirm that the current price rise has nothing to do with us,” he said. “Major companies who deal in oil are responsible,” he added.
Prince Abdullah also said that the Kingdom had dealt very damaging blows to the terrorist “masterminds” and was now pursuing the last of the suspected militants.
“We directly targeted the heads of the snakes in order to cut them off. Many were killed, some were arrested and the rest surrendered,” Prince Abdullah told the paper.
“We have past the stage of terrorism. What you are seeing today is the liquidation of the last pockets and the hunting for the remaining (terrorists),” he explained.
Prince Abdullah vowed to pursue the terrorists until they were wiped out and he praised security forces for their success so far. Some 90 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, many of them foreigners, in a series of attacks in the Kingdom over the past 15 months.
Referring to this year’s budget surplus, the crown prince said the lion’s share would be used to pay public debts incurred mainly at the time of the second Gulf War. He said the Kingdom would go ahead with its reform program “within the framework of its characteristics, customs and faith.”
He pointed out that Western countries had reached their present stage after development processes lasting hundreds of years; they had not achieved reforms within only a decade or two.
Prince Abdullah called upon Saudi businessmen to make use of opportunities in the country. “They should know that the skies will not rain gold. The real jihad is work and production,” he said.
