Energy Minister: Saudi Arabia to Boost Oil Capacity to 12.3 Mln BPD by 2028

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman (Reuters)

OPEC+ ministers dismissed the recent drop in oil prices following their decision to gradually increase crude production starting in October. They believe the market will eventually see their strategy as the right move.
On his part, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced that Saudi Arabia plans to increase its oil production capacity to 12.3 million barrels per day within four years.
“We adjusted the production capacity from 13 million barrels per day to 12 million bpd. However, in 2025, we will have an incremental increase," said the energy minister.
"We will have a bigger incremental increase in 2026 and 2027. And then we will go back to our 12.3 million bpd production in 2028,” he revealed.
The announcement came during a special panel discussion at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia.
The forum, themed “The Future of the Oil and Gas Market: Global Demand Outlook and Producers' Plans,” was attended by several OPEC and non-OPEC ministers.
Prince Abdulaziz, who also serves as the chairman of the OPEC+ ministerial meetings, underscored the robust decisions made during the 37th OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting held on June 2 in Riyadh.
The Saudi minister said OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, can pause or reverse production increases if it decides the market is not strong enough.
“It's a year and a half agreement, it has all the mechanics, some of the mechanics are not new, we have also exercised it before... Especially this issue of pausing or reversing,” he added, referring to the previous practices when OPEC+ paused on releasing more oil.
Moreover, Prince Abdulaziz disagreed with the bearish view of US bank Goldman Sachs of OPEC+’s deal on Sunday.
Some OPEC+ members agreed on Sunday to phase out voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day over a year beginning from October. OPEC+ also agreed to maintain other cuts amounting to 3.66 million bpd until end-2025.
Goldman Sachs issued a short, two-page report on June 2, headlined “Bearish phase out of extra voluntary cuts.”
Prince Abdulaziz said Goldman Sachs had used incorrect figures to come to its conclusions.
“I’ve counted that, in the two pages, seven times they mentioned bearish, bearish, bearish. Worse, technically worse and professionally worse, they have put numbers that are wrong,” he said.