Saudi Arabia ready to work with others to stabilise oil

November, 24th 2015

Saudi Arabia's cabinet said on Monday it was ready to cooperate with Opec and non-Opec countries to achieve market stability, repeating what Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi said in a speech last week.

"The council [of ministers]... stressed the kingdom's role in [achieving] the stability of the oil market and its continuous readiness and efforts to cooperate with all Opec and non-Opec countries to maintain the stability of the market and prices," the cabinet said.

Markets closely watch any comment from Saudi Arabia's political leadership for signs of any shift in its decision not to defend oil prices by cutting output, seeking instead to recover market share taken by higher-cost rival production.

Some other members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which will meet on December 4, have pushed Riyadh to abandon this policy and work to bolster prices.

The weekly cabinet meeting statement typically mentions energy policy only in the context of a major speech by Al Naimi. Its statement on Monday paraphrased a speech Al Naimi gave in Bahrain on Thursday.

A previous cabinet meeting statement in April, the last such statement Reuters noted that addressed oil policy, also affirmed Riyadh's willingness to "participate in restoring market stability" if other major oil producers also did so.

Source: www.khaleejtimes.com