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Saudi target $100 a barrel oil prices
Saudi Arabia has targeted a crude oil price of $100 a barrel, the first time it has set its sights on a triple digit price.
Ali Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, said the world’s largest oil producer aimed to “stabilise” oil prices below their current level of $111.
“Our wish and hope is we can stabilise this oil price and keep it at a level around $100”, he said in an interview with CNN.
“If we were able as producers and consumers to average $100 I think the world economy would be in better shape.”
In 2008 Saudi Arabia’s king Abdullah suggested $75 a barrel. The call for $100 today puts Saudi inline with countries such as Algeria and Venezuela who have called for the price of oil to remain above $100 in the past.
The move by Mr Naimi comes as Riyadh begins to implement plans to prevent political unrest and an uprising in the country following the Arab Spring last year.
King Abdullah has announced two populist programmes of handouts, along with a boost to public spending, that total $129bn – equal to more than half the country’s oil revenues last year.
