More and more Saudi oil

Saudi Arabia has the capacity and resources to significantly increase production, should it want to

THE KINGDOM may be planning for life without oil, but its state company, Aramco, is busy keeping the kingdom’s lifeblood ticking over. Crude output this year has averaged 10.2m barrels a day. A modest increase is possible in the very short term, possibly reaching last year’s heights of 10.5m b/d if demand surges more than expected during the peak summer months. Fuel from the Wasit gas plant, processing non-associated gas from the offshore Arabiyah and Hasbah fields, may lessen by about 100,000 b/d the need for crude oil to be burnt in power plants this summer, says the International Energy Agency (IEA). Next year, production is expected to inch higher, averaging 10.34m b/d, says the IMF. But