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Saudis 'foresee no shortages' of oil in the future

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 Free Headline Alerts

ABU DHABI — Saudi Arabia has been producing about 60 percent of its crude oil capacity.

Officials said the figure marked the lowest level of crude operations by the Saudi kingdom in years. They said Riyad was pumping eight million barrels per day out of a capacity of 12.5 million.

"With so much spare capacity available in the world now we foresee no shortages in the future," Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Nueimi said.

Officials said the Oil Ministry would maintain current production levels amid the global economic crisis. They said current oil prices, which hover around $70 a barrel, would ensure continued investment in the kingdom's energy capacity.

Meanwhile, is preparing to expand operations in the Dukhan fields.

Officials said the project, operated by Qatar Petroleum, would include infrastructure and equipment to expand Dukhan's daily production of 250,000 barrels of oil.

"The management is currently putting together a number of programs to develop human talent working on the field, and are being trained both inside and outside of the country," Ahmed Saif Al Sulaiti, operations manager at Dukhan, said. "The aim of these programs is to keep our workers up-to-date with the latest global technologies in the oil and gas industry."

Al Sulaiti said construction would take place at Dukhan during 2009 and last through 2011. He did not cite forecasts of energy production capacity at Dukhan, the site of the first oil discovery in Qatar in 1938.

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