Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said, on Saturday, that Saudi Arabia announced an increase in its production capacity to 13 million barrels of oil per day by 2027, after which “the kingdom will not have any additional capacity to increase production.”
During his speech at the opening of the Jeddah Security and Development Summit, in the presence of US President Joe Biden and the leaders of six Gulf countries, in addition to Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, the Crown Prince called for “continuing to pump investments in fossil energy and its clean technologies, and encouraging this over the next two decades to meet the growing demand globally.”
Video | #Crown: #The kingdom It announced an increase in production capacity to 13 million barrels per day, after which the Kingdom will not have any additional capacity to increase#Jeddah_Summit_Security_and_Development#news pic.twitter.com/b43FsObhRQ
– News Channel (@alekhbariyatv) July 16, 2022
The United States and European countries are demanding the kingdom, one of the largest oil producing countries, to increase crude production to lower prices and compensate for Russian oil after the sanctions imposed on Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine.
At the outset, the Crown Prince indicated that he hopes “the summit will establish a new era of joint cooperation to deepen the strategic partnership between our countries and the United States of America to serve our common interests and enhance security and development in this vital region for the whole world.”
Oil prices fell more than 5% for a short period on Thursday, reaching levels not recorded since before the start of the war on Ukraine, as a result of fears of a recession that threatens the demand for black gold, in the context of record inflation in the United States and the euro area.
The price of a barrel of Brent North Sea oil, the benchmark in Europe for September delivery, decreased by 3.67% to reach $95.93.
The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate oil for August delivery also decreased by 4.40% to reach $92.04.
Fears of slowing demand affected profits after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when oil prices rose sharply and reached levels not seen since the 2008 economic crisis.
Thus, oil prices returned to the levels recorded before the invasion of Ukraine, when the price of a barrel of Brent ranged between 95 and 99 dollars and the price of a barrel of West Texas oil between 90 and 94 dollars.
However, prices are still up about 22% over the year, as at the beginning of the year and before the start of the war on February 24, supply disruptions and the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine caused prices to rise sharply.