As supply fears helped set a new price record, Saudi Arabia's oil minister said Thursday that OPEC's dominant producer had no immediate plans to boost crude output because there was no need to do so.
But Minister Ali Naimi said he was "concerned about the (price) level" and suggested Saudi Arabia is ready to raise production if the kingdom perceives that basics have changed, with supply no longer meeting demand.
For now, "all our buyers are satisfied and happy," he told reporters on the fringes of the 19th World Petroleum Congress and against a backdrop of soaring oil prices that hit a trading record above US$145 a barrel.
He suggested his country was ready to put more oil on the market "if there is a buyer."
About 20 energy ministers, CEOs of national and international oil companies and other industry leaders are among the more than 3,000 delegates attending the congress, which is debating ways of cooling the volatility of energy markets.
In the past, production boosts have been effective in driving prices down, but the buoyancy of the present market appears to be defying conventional control mechanisms.
A recent Saudi pledge to add 200,000 barrels per day as of July to a 300,000 barrel-per-day production increase announced in May did not dent prices, which have continued to spike to new records with increasing frequency.
In global electronic trading Thursday, benchmark crude futures for August delivery touched US$145.85 a barrel, a trading record. That was after setting a new closing high for floor trade Wednesday at US$143.57.
Concern over an unexpectedly large fall in crude stocks in the U.S. _ the world's largest oil consumer _ appeared to be part of the mix driving prices.
The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that oil supplies fell by 2 million barrels last week, or about 800,000 barrels more than analysts surveyed by the energy research firm Platts had predicted.
The development appears to add support to arguments from the U.S. and other major consumers that the market is undersupplied _ something the Saudis and OPEC as a whole deny.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson restated Washington's view Thursday, telling reporters in London: "There are questions in the short term about the ability to meet the demand." Soaring oil prices risk prolonging the world economic slowdown, he said, adding he saw no "quick fixes" for cooling the crude market.
But Naimi cautioned against attaching undue importance to the EIA's weekly snapshot.
"Don't take one week's number and use it as a guideline," he said, adding that crude stocks rose by 20 million barrels last month in the 30 industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. "Whatever we are seeing in the international oil market is driven by many factors, the least of which is the concern over the immediate supply."
Instead, he listed increased institutional investment, the weak dollar, Middle East tensions, concerns about natural catastrophes and "the fear the world is running out of fossil fuels" as boosting prices.
"When you combine all of these and try to figure what the price will do, it will be a difficult task for anybody," he said.
Later, addressing the closing plenary of the conference, Naimi acknowledged that out-of-control prices are "creating a crisis of confidence about our energy future." But he downplayed fears they are a sign that the oil era will end soon with no replacement in sight.
"There is plenty of recoverable oil left in the ground, perhaps as many as 5 to 7 trillion barrels," he said. "Significant quantities of oil remain undiscovered ... the petroleum industry will find this oil and produce it."
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Associated Press writer David Stringer contributed to this report from London.
