HOUSTON, 28 June 2006 — Saudi Arabia cannot sell some of its crude oil production due to a lack of buying interest from oil refiners, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States told a conference in Houston yesterday. “We have 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day that is going unsold because there are no buyers,” said Prince Turki Al-Faisal.
Saudi Arabia has said it will sell as much oil as buyers want in order to bring prices down from their current levels but Saudi crude oil production dipped to just over 9 million barrels per day in May of this year amid a lack of buying interest.
Qatar Oil Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah remarked on the sidelines of the same conference on Monday that a lack of heavy crude oil refining capacity worldwide was making it difficult for OPEC to sell all of its production, although he added the group should not alter its production policies until oil prices fall to $50 per barrel.
