The minister added that he thinks today's oil prices are at "more sustainable levels".
He also repeated his support for current prices, which, at nearly $83 a barrel, are slightly above the $70-$80 band that he has said is ideal for producers and consumers.
"The worst financial and economic crisis in decades is slowly fading and the world is entering a new growth trajectory," Al-Naimi said.
"As the oil prices are back to their more sustainable levels, I am more optimistic about the future of energy and oil demand."
Saudi Arabia will build three huge refineries in Jubail, Yanbu and Jazan as part of the country's downstream programs.
"We are embarking on the most ambitious downstream program in the history of the Saudi oil industry, a slate of refinery expansion, modernization and integration with petrochemical facilities that entails investments in tens of billions of dollars over the next five years. We are moving ahead on our own or with international partners to build three refineries in Kingdom in Jubail, Yanbu and the southwestern city of Jazan. We have also, in partnership with the Japanese company Somitomo, modernized and integrated the Rabigh refinery with petrochemical complex and are proceeding with plans to build a mega petrochemical project in partnership with US Dow Chemical. We always plan with a long-range vision, and this forward-looking strategy reflects our belief that the world economy will recover - and along with it, energy and oil demand - the signs of which we are already witnessing," Al-Naimi said while addressing the Saudi-American Business Opportunity Forum in Chicago on Wednesday night.
Al-Naimi's speech mainly focused on themes such as the response of Saudi Arabia and its oil industry to challenges facing the global energy scene.
The minister said Saudi Arabia responded to the global oil crisis in different directions.
"We continued along our longstanding policy of moderation and keeping the markets well supplied at all times. When prices reached unsustainable levels detrimental to both world economic growth and the development potentials of the developing countries, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah convened a landmark meeting in Jeddah in June 2008, inviting producing and consuming countries as well as the industry to find global solutions to the global issue of price volatility. The Jeddah summit, and a subsequent meeting in London, culminated in setting up an international high level steering group to study producer-consumer relations and price volatility. This group's report was presented to the energy ministerial meeting of the International Energy Forum in Cancun at the end of last month."
The Kingdom also embarked on a series of crude oil production capacity increments totaling 2.8 million barrels per day between 2004 and 2009, pushing up its capacity to 12.5 million barrels per day.
It continued a policy of maintaining at least 1.5 to two million barrels per day of excess production capacity at all times to respond to market needs and to be tapped in times of market turmoil or supply interruptions elsewhere.
"I must say that no other country is either technically capable nor willing to continually exercise such a policy, such capacity increases and excess capacity keeping the market well supplied and balanced throughout this interim," the minister pointed out.
Speaking on the role in strengthening relations between the countries, the minister said, "Historically, oil has played an important role in relations between our two countries since the 1933 signing of the first oil exploration concession agreement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Standard Oil Company of California - the predecessor of today's Chevron. Since the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia and the realization of its potential, the world oil landscape has changed considerably - and so have investment and trade relations between our two countries."
He added that thousands of Americans worked in the Kingdom and contributed to setting the foundation for an efficient oil industry. Likewise, the continuous, reliable Saudi oil flows into the US contributed to fulfill America's energy needs and economic prosperity. At the same time, tens of thousands of Saudis studied in the US and returned to build an effective government, oil industry, and a flourishing private sector, he said.
- With input from agencies
