Energy Minister Al-Falih says oil market intervention is unnecessary
Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih has effectively ruled out the possibility that major oil producers will agree a production cut next month, Reuters reported on 25 August.
“We don’t believe any significant intervention in the market is necessary other than to allow the forces of supply and demand to do the work for us,” he said in an interview following a speech at the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council in Los Angeles.
OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF), which groups producers and consumers in Algeria on 26-28 September.
Speaking publicly for the first time since talk about freezing production surfaced in the last few weeks, Al-Falih said there have not yet been any specific discussions of a production freeze by OPEC.
Brent crude has rebounded sharply since January but struggled to stay above $50 a barrel.
Saudi Arabia produced an all-time record high of 10.67m barrels a day of crude oil in July. Al-Falih said on Thursday that production has remained around that level, though he could not cite a specific number for August.
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