BERLIN: Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said on Wednesday he expected oil prices, which hit a near six-year low in January, to stabilise, signalling cautious optimistism about the market outlook.

Giving a speech in the German capital, Ali al-Naimi also urged non-Opec producers to help balance the oil market, saying it was not up to Saudi Arabia to subsidise higher-cost producers and that circumstances required non-Opec to cooperate.

“Going forward, I hope and expect supply and demand to balance and for prices to stabilise,” Naimi said.

“Global economic growth seems more robust.”

The comments are a further sign Opec’s top producer is sticking to its policy to defend market share. Last month, Naimi signalled satisfaction with developments, saying he saw oil demand growing and that markets were “calm”. Oil was trading just above $60 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 30 per cent from a near six-year low close to $45 on Jan 13.

Prices collapsed from $115 in June due to oversupply, in a decline that deepened after Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) at a November meeting refused to cut output.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2015

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