28/07/2009
KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, July 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco's oil output capacity reached 12 million barrels per day in June when three new oilfield projects started, the al-Hayat newspaper reported Aramco's chief executive as saying on Tuesday.
One of those projects was the Shaybah oilfield expansion, Khalid al-Falih said.
"Production capacity of the company was 12 million barrels per day in June, when output started from three fields which are Nuayyim, Khurais and Shaybah," the paper reported Falih as saying.
The global fall in oil demand was temporary and growth in consumption would eventually resume, he said.
If the world fails to invest in oil sector capacity during this period of lower demand, then global output capacity would be reduced and result in a rapid rise in oil prices in the future, the paper reported him as saying. That could cause a crisis in the wider economy, as well as in oil, he added.
The fall in crude demand has left Saudi with plenty of spare capacity and allowed the kingdom to concentrate on developing gas from fields not associated with oil output, Falih said. (Reporting by Reem Shamseddine; writing by Simon Webb; editing by Michael Urquhart)
