- Title: SAUDI-OIL Saudi's Naimi expects oil market to balance, prices to stabilise
- Date: 4th March 2015
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (MARCH 4, 2015) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** STAGE AHEAD OF NEWS CONFERENCE SAUDI OIL MINISTER ALI AL-NAIMI AND GERMAN VICE CHANCELLOR AND ECONOMY MINISTER, SIGMAR GABRIEL, ARRIVING NAIMI AND GABRIEL WALKING ONTO PODIUM AUDIENCE SPEAKERS SEATED AUDIENCE NAIMI GETTING UP TO DELIVER SPEECH AUDIENCE AND CAMERAWOMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI OIL MINISTER, ALI AL-NAIMI, SAYING: "With the recent price drop, OPEC and Saudi Arabia have yet again been maliciously and unfairly criticised for what is in reality a market reaction. Some speak of OPEC's war on shale. Others claim OPEC is dead. Theories abound. They are all wrong." MAN IN AUDIENCE TAKING PICTURE WITH MOBILE PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI OIL MINISTER, ALI AL-NAIMI, SAYING: "Saudi Arabia's quest for market share is simply an effort to satisfy rising customer demand. We see calm markets because this benefits everyone." MAN IN AUDIENCE TAKING PICTURE WITH MOBILE PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI OIL MINISTER, ALI AL-NAIMI, SAYING: "Seeking well-balanced market, markets remains the central pillar of Saudi Arabia's oil policy." PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI OIL MINISTER, ALI AL-NAIMI, SAYING: "Over the past eight month though, with the market in surplus, it is Saudi Arabia that's called upon to make swift and dramatic cuts in production. This policy was tried in the 1980s and it was not a success. We will not make the same mistake again. Today, it is not the role of Saudi Arabia or certain other OPEC nations to subsidise higher cost producers by seizing market share." AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI OIL MINISTER, ALI AL-NAIMI, SAYING: "Saudi Arabia remains committed to helping balance the market, but circumstances require other non-OPEC nations to cooperate. Currently, they chose not to do so. They have their reasons. But I would like to be known that Saudi Arabia continues to seek consensus." AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI OIL MINISTER, ALI AL-NAIMI, SAYING: "Going forward, I hope and expect supply and demand to once again start to balance and for prices to stabilise." MAN IN AUDIENCE TAKING PICTURE WITH MOBILE PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI OIL MINISTER, ALI AL-NAIMI, SAYING: "Germany is a world leader in terms of solar and Saudi Arabia has a lot of sun and acreage -- of course we have a little dust and sand but that's okay. We intend to harness more and more of our domestic energy needs from solar power. So there really is scope for greater cooperation." PHOTOGRAPHER AND AUDIENCE NAIMI SAYING "DANKE SCHOEN" (THANK YOU), MOVING AWAY FROM PODIUM
- Embargoed: 19th March 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAD1FIYH2M1ZGQOJLSN9O7JSW3I
- Story Text: Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Wednesday (March 4) he hoped and expected the oil market to balance and prices, which hit a near six-year low in January, to stabilise.
In a speech, he said his country was committed to helping balance the oil market, but added it was not up to Saudi Arabia, OPEC's top exporter, to subsidise higher-cost producers and that circumstances required non-OPEC nations to cooperate.
"With the recent price drop, OPEC and Saudi Arabia have yet again been maliciously and unfairly criticised for what is in reality a market reaction. Some speak of OPEC's war on shale. Others claim OPEC is dead. Theories abound. They are all wrong," Naimi said.
"Going forward, I hope and expect supply and demand to balance and for prices to stabilise," he added.
The comments are a further sign from Naimi of cautious optimism about the market outlook. Last month, Naimi signalled satisfaction with developments, saying he saw oil demand growing and that markets were "calm".
Oil LCOc1 was trading just above $60 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 30 percent from a near six-year low close to $45 on January 13.
Prices collapsed from $115 in June due to oversupply, in a decline that deepened after Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at a November meeting refused to cut output.
At the meeting, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies argued that the group needed to ride out lower prices in order to defend market share against shale oil and other competing supply sources, rather than cut output. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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