Oil price slump should not stop investments: Al-Naimi

Saudi Arabia has called for sustained investment in new output capacity despite the slump in world prices.

Ali Al-Naimi, minister for petroleum and mineral resources, said global production lost four million barrels per day due to natural depreciation and predicted an increase in demand of one million bpd.

“The oil industry is required to add new production capacity of 5.0 million bpd to compensate for the natural loss in production and meet the growth in global demand,” he told an energy conference in Manama on Thursday.

“Large investments are required to meet such needs. We must continue and even increase the pace of investments in the energy sector.”
Oil prices have slumped by more than 50 percent since the middle of last year amid a worldwide supply glut, prompting the cancelation of a string of major investment projects.

Al-Naimi said that over the next decade, Arab countries, which hold 56 percent of proven global crude reserves and 27 percent of gas deposits, would need to invest around $700 billion in energy projects to boost production. 

He also called for efforts to stabilize the energy market, saying that Saudi Arabia was prepared to work with OPEC and non-OPEC producers to support prices.