Saudi security guard the entrance of the oil processing plant of the Saudi state oil giant Aramco
© AFP/File

Nicosia, Feb 23 (ANI): Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi has said that the world oil market is now better balanced and that if prices are maintained at approximately the current levels, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will not make any adjustments to production levels at their forthcoming meeting in March.

The opinion of the Saudi Oil Minister always carries a special weight in OPEC, as Saudi Arabia is a swing producer who can increase or decrease production immediately according to the conditions prevailing in the oil market.

In a recent interview with Wall Street Journal, Ali Naimi said that Saudi oil production stood at 8.5 million barrels a day, about one million barrels a day less than the country's output six months ago.

Saudi Arabia has reduced its production, complying with OPEC's decisions taken at the oil cartel's meetings in Doha and in Abuja.

The Saudi Oil Minister said he could not say whether OPEC would make further production cuts, because in his view the market was in balance. However, he stressed that Saudi Arabia was committed to expand its production capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day by 2010. (ANI)