Notwithstanding all the scoffing at President Biden’s stumbling words in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohamed bin Salman did announce at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit which followed Biden’s visit, that Saudi Arabia was going to “increase its capacity for oil production to 13 million barrels [per day—ed.] as soon as possible. Beyond that the Kingdom will not have any further capacity.” That would mean from 12 million to 13 million barrels/day “capacity.”
However, capacity to produce doesn’t mean production. Of the current 12 million bpd capacity, Saudi production has not exceeded 10.5 million over the past 18 months. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has apparently been importing Russian oil, and that may be some of its “capacity.” Over the period April-June Saudi Aramco dramatically increased that import to tens of thousands of metric tons, a rate which provides it with hundreds of thousands of barrels/day to sell, if continued.
Perhaps behind the recent decline in the WTI price of oil to the mid-$90s/barrel, is both Russian discounting of direct sales, and Russian-Saudi cooperation in indirect sales. The two (likely soon to be BRICS) leaderships have been collaborating on oil marketing and pricing for at least two years.
