OPEC members may ramp up production this year as global demand for crude rises to 1.8 million barrels a day, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi said.
Surging populations in emerging markets such as China, India, the Middle East and Latin America would see demand rise by two percent, Al Naimi said in a speech in Riyadh on Monday.
“Demand will reflect the global economic conditions and will vary from one region to another,” he said. OPEC’s policy “is well known and is to meet demand. It is also expected that some OPEC countries will increase their production capacities, thus maintaining OPEC’s spare capacity at approximately six million barrels per day.”
Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, will have spare oil production capacity of about four million barrels a day this year, Al Naimi said.
Asked whether oil prices would again reach $100 a barrel, Al Naimi said:
“The future is the future.”
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