The Council of Ministers made the statement after a weekly
meeting, which was chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
It reviewed the developments in Libya and its impact on the country’s oil
production and world market supply.
“While hoping stability and prosperity for Libya and its
people, the council hopes that the present emergency situation would disappear
in order for Libya to resume production shortly with the same level as before,”
the Cabinet meeting said.
Earlier Monday, Saudi Aramco CEO Khalid Al-Falih told
reporters that all demands for extra oil following the Libyan production
disruption have been met. He said he could not give exact figures because it
was "a moving picture."
"All incremental needs requested by our customers have
been met," Al-Falih said on the sidelines of a conference in Alkhobar.
"All incremental needs, and some, have been addressed immediately and you
can verify it with customers."
Saudi Arabia supplies data retroactively to the Joint Oil
Data Initiative, which showed December output reached nearly 8.4 million bpd,
while exports fell as its stocks accumulated. Some of the stocks can be used to
meet rising domestic need, including burning fuel oil for power generation.
They can also meet any global supply shortfall.
News of increased Saudi Arabian production has helped lower
oil prices, which last week hit a two-and-a-half-year high of nearly $120 a
barrel.
Libya's eastern port of Tobruk reopened Monday and one
tanker bound for China was being loaded, officials said. Rajab Sahnoun, an
official with the Arabian Gulf Oil Co., said the tanker with a capacity of 1
million barrels of crude was being loaded at the Marsa Al-Harigh (Tobruk) port,
while another Italy-bound tanker was waiting and expected to load in the coming
days.
Shukri Ghanem, the head of the state-run National Oil Co.
and Libya's de facto oil minister, said that production had been cut by around
50 percent, and argued it was "safe" for foreign oil workers to
return after a mass exodus sparked by Muammar Qaddafi's increasingly violent
campaign to retain control of the country.
