Reply #4: Saudi spare capacity three million bpd, says oil minister

[ozymandius]

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Saudi Arabia will have spare production capacity of three million barrels per day on February 1, the OPEC kingpin's oil minister has said.

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OPEC has an output cut of 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) set to start February 1 after a reduction of 1.2 million bpd in November as it tries to hold the line on prices, which have fallen from peak highs of 78 dollars in July to around 53 dollars.

The spare capacity figures for the world's top oil producer and exporter came after Nuaimi said there was no need for an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss a possible output cut since the situation in the crude oil market is "healthy".

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Saudi Arabia pumped around nine million bpd during 2006.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070117/bs_afp/indiaopeccommodities_070117114738