Saudi to maintain ‘stable’ oil policies: energy minister

Al-Naimi, 80, previously served as Saudi Aramco chairman before being appointed to the oil minister post in 1995.

Additionally, Aramco wants to expand globally and is looking at potential joint ventures in several countries, including Indonesia, India, the United States, Vietnam and China, chief executive Amin Nasser said on Tuesday.

The kingdom’s Petroleum Ministry has been renamed the the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Electricity has been folded into the kingdom’s energy portfolio, Reuters said.

Saudi Arabia is raising production and pressing ahead with a global expansion plan for its state oil company ahead of what could be the world’s largest ever stock market listing.

The move was widely predicted as al-Naimi seemed to have lost his authority at the last OPEC meeting in April in Doha when the group decided not to freeze oil production at current levels in a bid to support global oil prices.

The kingdom is leading Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members in a battle for market share against higher-cost producers including US shale drillers.

“Falih appears very firmly of the view that the market needs to be balanced through low oil prices…” Earlier this year, Mr. Nasser said Aramco wanted to raise its gas output to 23 billion standard cubic feet a day from around 12 billion cubic feet a day. Falih represents more centralisation of power by his royal masters.

With demand “increasing”, Nasser stressed that Saudi Aramco “will meet the call”, noting that the company which monopolises all production in the kingdom pumped an average of 10.2 million barrels per day a year ago.

When the price of oil crashed to $26 a barrel this past February, it eviscerated the American fracking boom and created headaches for Saudi Arabia, the largest oil producer in the world. The conflict has been directed by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, who is also guiding the country’s new economic blueprint laid out last month .

“The appointment of a new minister shows that the Saudis are trying to rejuvenate the market and are serious about trying to reduce production”, said Alex Wijaya, a senior trader at CMC Markets. According to Reuter’s estimate, the wildfire has knocked out about half of the crude output from the sands, or 1 million barrels per day.