US' Chu says he agrees with Naimi that oil market is 'oversupplied'
Washington (Platts)--18Apr2011/416 pm EDT/2016 GMT
US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Monday that he agrees with Saudi
Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi's comment Sunday that there is excess
crude on the market.
Oil markets do have "extra, spare capacity" despite the situation in
Libya that has trimmed some output, Chu said on a conference call. "I
have been following this very closely, and as you know there appears to
be roughly 4 million b/d [of] extra capacity."
Chu said he thought Naimi was indicating in his comments that
refiners are simply not bidding on this additional supply.
Naimi on Sunday said the world oil market was "oversupplied." He also
said the OPEC kingpin pumped 8.29 million b/d in March, which would
suggest a cut of roughly 700,000 b/d from February, an indication there
was a lack of demand for the barrels the Saudis had promised in the wake
of Libyan disruptions.
NYMEX May crude settled $2.54 lower at $107.12/barrel on Monday on
Naimi's comments and weaker equities markets.
--Derek Sands,
derek_sands@platts.com
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