Saudi’s Naimi aims for moderate oil price-Japan govt

Saudi Arabia is aiming for moderate oil prices and assured Japan on Tuesday of supplies from the world’s top crude producer in case of emergencies, during a tour by its oil minister Ali al-Naimi of key Asian consumer nations.

Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with $80 billion investments in energy production to meet future oil demand growth and to maintain a spare supply cushion, but may be concerned about secure demand for its crude at a time of sliding oil prices.
Naimi did not give an actual price level he considers to be moderate, during discussions focused on stabilising oil prices to sustain the world’s economic growth, a Japanese official said after the talks in the world’s number-three oil consumer.

These followed Naimi’s meetings with energy officials in the past week in South Korea and India, where he said prices had to give adequate returns to producers without hurting consumers, and came ahead of a trip to number-two oil consumer China on Wednesday.

Reuters