Saudi Arabia is Committed to Petroleum Availability in Global

"This current environment is a sharp contrast indeed to the rapid and
sustained economic growth witnessed between 2003 and 2007, when
global GDP gains experienced their fastest four-year growth periods
in 20 years. Nowhere was this prosperity trend more evident than in
Asia, as its economic ascension and parallel growth in energy demand
signaled an Eastern shift of the world energy market’s gravity
center. However, just as globalization contributed to Asia’s rising
fortunes, the economic unraveling that began with the sub prime
mortgage disaster and subsequent banking and credit crises in the
West in mid-2008 has observed no geographic boundaries.


This global downturn is exerting a profound effect on the entire
continent of Asia, from the Pacific Rim in the East to the Red Sea in
the West. Asia’s impressive economic growth statistics, rooted in its
purchasing power, robust trade and consumption, and generous
percentage of world central bank reserves, have declined sharply in
response to lack of investment capital and slowed global demand. This
reversal is clear confirmation that the economic fortunes of our
continent and its people are intertwined.


The drying up of liquidity to fund projects underpinning economic
growth in emerging and developing economies has been a significant
consequence of the recession. This impact on investment is of great
concern, notably for energy-sector projects adversely affected by oil
price volatility and lower demand for oil, when long-range
commitments of adequate and timely investment flows are needed to
ensure future supply.


Ladies and gentlemen: oil prices and energy security remain at the
top of the international agenda as major, long-term challenges that
must be urgently addressed by consumers and producers.


Just in the past year, oil prices took the world by surprise with
the great speed in which they rose, and in recent months, they again
stunned with their spectacular fall. Just as no one anticipated oil
prices would climb to their unprecedented height of $147 per barrel
last summer, the precipitous price drop below the $40 mark has
likewise been a shock.


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