Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid al Falih said oil output has reached 10.7m barrels a day — the joint highest level on record — as the kingdom moves to increase supply to compensate for the loss of Iranian barrels from US sanctions.
Mr al Falih, speaking at an energy conference in Moscow as oil prices trade near a four-year high of $85 a barrel, said the kingdom was responding to growing customer demand.
Saudi Arabia and Russia have moved to increased production as Iran’s exports have begun to slip ahead of the reimposition of US sanctions in early November. Traders are questioning, however, whether the output boost will be enough with between 1-2m barrels of Iranian exports seen as under threat.
Saudi Arabia pumped a record 10.72m b/d in November 2016 shortly before the kingdom agreed to restrict output with its fellow Opec members and Russia.
Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, was down 10 cents at $84.70 at midday in London, having earlier hit $85.33 a barrel.
