Saudi Arabia, under U.S. pressure to increase its oil output amid soaring energy prices, said Friday it had raised production by 300,000 barrels per day on May 10 and that increase was sufficient.
Oil Minister Ali Naimi told reporters at a news conference that the increase, which came in response to customers' requests, would push output from the world's leading producer to 9.45 million barrels per day by June. He said Saudi Arabia is capable of meeting the needs of all its customers, suggesting it would raise production further only in response to demand.
The announcement coincided with a Saudi visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to appeal for a more significant increase in output that might help bring down the price of oil. The price topped $127 a barrel Friday, a record high.
"Supply and demand are in balance today," the Saudi oil minister said. "How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?"
He said the Saudis increased production by 300,000 barrels per day on May 10 after about 50 customers around the world requested it. He added most of the requests came from the U.S.
Naimi also said that in the future if there was a need to increase oil production, then Saudi Arabia has no objection to doing so. He also said Saudi officials spoke to Bush about production and told him the kingdom's policy is to respond to the customers' demands.
Bush's national security adviser told reporters earlier that Saudi Arabia's leaders made clear during the president's visit they see no reason to increase oil production further until customers demand it.
"Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy," Stephen Hadley said.
"What the Saudis wanted to tell us was 'We're doing everything we can do ... to meet this problem, but it's a complicated problem."'
Saudi Arabia, which has the world's largest oil reserves, has in the past acknowledged the ability to produce as much as 11 million barrels a day.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who spoke at the same news conference, said he understands Bush's concerns for the U.S. economy, which is suffering in part from rising energy prices.
"We do sympathize with him over this issue and we do what we can do to support the international economy with the increase (in oil production) that it needs," he said.
Hadley also said the Saudis briefed Bush again on their plan to increase their production capacity over time. They also argued that even an increase would be unlikely to bring down the soaring prices, driven more by uncertainty in the market, lack of refining capacity for the type of oil readily available and other complicated dynamics, he said.