Saudi Arabia is Committed to Petroleum Availability in Global

"Ladies and gentlemen, the worldwide recession is slowing industrial
growth rates around the world, and the oil industry is no exception;
it is feeling the full effects of the financial crisis.

However, Saudi Arabia remains committed to our massive expansion
program to raise our production capacity to 12.5 million barrels per
day by mid-year. This significant spare production capacity will
mitigate any future shortages. The Kingdom has also made an
unprecedented commitment to expand our refining capacity, both at
home and abroad, to help correct the imbalances between crude-oil
quality and refining configurations.


The petroleum industry is a long-range business, with project
horizons necessarily spanning decades into the future. Such
investment reflects the Kingdom’s commitment, despite current
economic conditions, to implement its business strategy and
infrastructure development plans to help ensure long-term market
stability and availability of energy supplies.


We are confident about the future role of oil, and we are confident
that our investment program will yield great dividends for consumers
here in Asia and elsewhere.


Today I assure you that Saudi Arabia is committed to the
availability of petroleum to global markets, and especially for
developing and emerging countries. This pledge is backed by concrete
plans and actions, and by the commitment of some $70 billion for
capital projects.


For example, in 2005, our national oil company, Saudi Aramco, signed
a memorandum of understanding with Sumitomo Chemical of Japan to
build a massive, integrated refining and petrochemical complex on the
west coast of Saudi Arabia. The resulting company, Petro Rabigh, has
begun operations this year, and will be one of the world’s largest
integrated refining and petrochemical facilities.


Another success story is the recent signing of the Rabigh Project II
memorandum of understanding with Sumitomo Chemical on April 19. This
major expansion extends value chains, and affords such benefits as
job creation, technical knowledge transfer, and diversification of
the Kingdom’s economy.


Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to highlight the key points I hope to
convey this morning. Today’s bleak economic and financial conditions
notwithstanding, Saudi Arabia believes that energy demand will
continue to grow in years to come, from the standpoints of the
forthcoming economic recovery, the enduring aspirations of all
nations for greater prosperity, and energy-intensive population
spikes around the world projected for the coming decades. Energy will
be required to fuel this recovery and future demand, and petroleum,
which powered the sweeping advances of the 20th century, is ready to
serve this new era of growth.


I would like to close by emphasizing my full confidence in Asia as a
global engine of growth and development, and a model of cooperation.
As members of this great continent, the nations represented here have
much in common – not the least of which are mutual respect and mutual
hopes for a sustainable future through oil-market stabilization,
climate-change mitigation, energy-poverty alleviation, and a return
to prosperity for Asia, and for the entire world.

Thank you for your kind attention".


--SPA