LONDON ,Jun 10-Saudi Arabia oil minister Ali Naimi said he believed the kingdom's current oil production capacity will be "comfortable" for another five years, if not longer, based on current energy demand trends, according to comments he made to an industry trade publication released Thursday.
"Based on projections, we are comfortable to 2015. Whether we will enjoy the same comfort in 2020 is questionable but we have almost ten years and I am comfortable because we look at it every year," Naimi told Petroleum Policy Intelligence. The comments are the second part of the interview PPI did with the minister on May 18.
" Now if all the measures being pursued worldwide on efficiency, renewable (energy) and electric cars materialize, then I doubt we will even produce 12.5 million barrels a day," Naimi said.
The kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter, earlier this year reached a goal of boosting its total oil pumping capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day. That, along with an uncertain outlook over how robust or not world crude demand will be in coming years, has heightened oil analyst opinion that it will be several years before the country begins adding big new increments to its production capacity.
Naimi said it will probably be around two years at a minimum before the kingdom begins to looks at undertaking big oil drilling projects that require many years to develop from start to finish.
The kingdom's current spare production capacity is 4.4 million barrels a day, or about two million barrels a day more than the Saudis' preference. The country's current oil production is around 8.1 million barrels a day.
Naimi also said that for every dollar Saudi Arabia spends on oil drilling capital expenditures, two thirds of that goes to just maintaining capacity and only one third goes to building additional capacity.
"When I look at the five year program just for oil, we are going to be spending $20-30 billion, so we are going to be spending substantial money just to stand where we are," Naimi said.
The minister also said there are several companies, including Asian ones, interested in taking part in the proposed 400,000 barrel-per-day Yanbu refinery project on the kingdom's west coast after ConocoPhillips announced in May it was pulling out. "But we have to decide first of all whether we need them - perhaps new partners will bring strengths in areas such as marketing," Naimi said.
"Based on projections, we are comfortable to 2015. Whether we will enjoy the same comfort in 2020 is questionable but we have almost ten years and I am comfortable because we look at it every year," Naimi told Petroleum Policy Intelligence. The comments are the second part of the interview PPI did with the minister on May 18.
" Now if all the measures being pursued worldwide on efficiency, renewable (energy) and electric cars materialize, then I doubt we will even produce 12.5 million barrels a day," Naimi said.
The kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter, earlier this year reached a goal of boosting its total oil pumping capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day. That, along with an uncertain outlook over how robust or not world crude demand will be in coming years, has heightened oil analyst opinion that it will be several years before the country begins adding big new increments to its production capacity.
Naimi said it will probably be around two years at a minimum before the kingdom begins to looks at undertaking big oil drilling projects that require many years to develop from start to finish.
The kingdom's current spare production capacity is 4.4 million barrels a day, or about two million barrels a day more than the Saudis' preference. The country's current oil production is around 8.1 million barrels a day.
Naimi also said that for every dollar Saudi Arabia spends on oil drilling capital expenditures, two thirds of that goes to just maintaining capacity and only one third goes to building additional capacity.
"When I look at the five year program just for oil, we are going to be spending $20-30 billion, so we are going to be spending substantial money just to stand where we are," Naimi said.
The minister also said there are several companies, including Asian ones, interested in taking part in the proposed 400,000 barrel-per-day Yanbu refinery project on the kingdom's west coast after ConocoPhillips announced in May it was pulling out. "But we have to decide first of all whether we need them - perhaps new partners will bring strengths in areas such as marketing," Naimi said.
