Al-Naimi Holds Press Conference

Jeddah, June 22, SPA -- Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, the Minister of
Petroleum and Mineral Resources, announced that the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia will continue to increase its oil production capacity to
stabilize the market, stressing that the Kingdom believes that it
should guarantee the flow of oil and it is ready for that.

In a press conference in Jeddah tonight following the
conclusion of Jeddah Energy Meeting, he pointed out that Saudi Arabia
has poured large additional quantities of oil in the market.

"Given the current levels of demand, we have pumped large quantities of additional oil production in the market to calm down those who feel worried about the levels of flow of oil. Then, consumers ought to say what do they want. At the same time, we will continue to increase our work to avoid instability of oil prices," he added.
He stressed that Jeddah Energy Meting has fulfilled all its
objectives upon the testimony of all attendees, whether they were
producers or exporters of oil or belonging to oil beginner countries
or the industry.

He said there is a high degree of determination and
commitment by the participants, given the nature of the situation
prevailing in the market as well as the response to such conditions.
Given the vital role of oil in our lives, the market is surrounded by
a lot of circumstances that affect our economies and our lives, a
matter for everyone to understand.

The minister explained that Jeddah Energy Meeting has
defined specific steps to counter the current circumstances in the
market and reduce the current fluctuations, calling for more steps to
be taken over by producers to create policies and appropriate climate
for investments to ensure future arrangements for the markets,
facilitate and ease geopolitical tensions in the world.

He expressed confidence that these steps will be met by the
related countries in order to stabilize the market.

Al-Naimi suggested that the current situation on oil market differs from that of the 1970s when oil prices soured, considering fears of oil price hikes as not new.

When putting its plans, the Kingdom looks at the whole world, a move not followed by others, the Minister said, adding that it also looks to the future and knows that its oil corporations are able to
implement these huge projects.

He also stressed the keenness of the Kingdom on maintaining the
market stability, considering meeting the orders of customers as part
of the market stability.

He called on all parties to work together to acknowledge problems and offer solutions simultaneously.

On the Kingdom's oil production increase, the Minister confirmed
there are efforts to make energy available, but we should bear in
mind that the Kingdom is a developing country and does that
gradually. Its efforts aim at diversifying energy sources and meeting
the demand, he added.

There are a lot of efforts exerted by the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia to move in the direction of providing energy to find
alternative energies to meet our needs, he said, adding that "at the
same time, we want to achieve prosperity for our people and we also
want to control the inflation". "And thus, we are going to support
the fuel, but such support will not continue forever, I believe".

We will try to diversify the sources of our economies, exert more efforts and work to preserve our wealth, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said.

He denied that the Kingdom was subject to pressure to
increase its oil production or to hold this meeting.

What encouraged the Kingdom to call for this meeting is the escalation and fluctuation of oil, which negatively affected the economies of many countries in the world, especially the economies of developing countries.

This is the main reason, he added.

He said that oil producing countries have asked consuming
countries to reduce taxes imposed on their citizens, explaining that
"reducing taxes on products in consumer countries was an unrest
demand of all oil producing countries, a situation that will be
examined by those countries now."