Saudi FM says oil market situation is "wierd"
AFP
Date: 05-18-06
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal pledged to work for lower oil prices and said it was "weird" they had risen so high with a surplus of crude available on the market.
Prince Saud made his comments after talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that covered the global energy landscape as well as regional and international issues.
The two said in a joint statement that their countries "have a shared strategic interest in secure and stable energy markets and moderate prices that support strong world economic growth. "
Prince Saud said that the Saudi oil giant Aramco had made public plans to balance supply and demand on markets where the price of crude oil stood Thursday at nearly 70 dollars a barrel.
"This does not really affect the current situation because there is no shortage of the supply, but on the contrary there is a surplus," he told a joint news conference through an interpreter.
"It is weird that at this time that there is a surplus, at the same time we have this ongoing problem. I can tell you that there is a shortage with respect to refineries and a structure that has to do with aspects of consumption."
Rice said the world's top oil producer and its largest consumer agreed that high energy prices were bad for the international economy.
"The answer, however, is to try and provide a stable supply over time and we welcome the efforts that Saudi Arabia is making to increase its production in the medium term and to invest in its energy infrastructrure," she said.
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