(Updates with share price)
By Maha El Dahan and Hadeel Al Sayegh
DUBAI, March 12 (Reuters) - Aramco Chief Executive Amin
Nasser said on Sunday that the oil market would remain tightly
balanced in the short to medium term, adding that he was
cautiously optimistic.
Nasser was speaking to the press after the Saudi Arabian oil
giant reported its highest ever annual profit since the company
was listed. Aramco's shares traded 0.6% higher after the results
were released, but closed mostly flat at 32.8 riyals ($8.74) a
share.
He said spare capacity remained tight at 2 million barrels
per day, while demand for jet fuel was increasing alongside
China's re-opening from tight COVID-19 restrictions.
"If you considered China opening up and a pick up in jet
fuels and very limited spare capacity, we are talking 2 million
barrels, so as I said we are cautiously optimistic in the short
to midterm and the market will remain tightly balanced," he
said.
A deal agreed between Iran and Saudi Arabia on Friday to
re-establish relations after years of hostility that had
threatened stability and security in the Gulf would have a
positive effect on global energy markets as it promotes regional
stability, Nasser said.
The kingdom has blamed Iran for missile and drone attacks on
its oil facilities in 2019 as well as attacks on tankers in Gulf
waters. Iran has denied those charges.
Aramco's crude supplies to its main Asian customers,
including China and India, were not impacted by the uptick of
Russian sales into Asia on the back of Western sanctions.
"We have a track record of maintaining reliability and an
excellent customer base. It didn't impact our supply to these
main markets," he said.
On recent imports of Russian diesel into Saudi Arabia,
Nasser said the kingdom had always been importing products for
its domestic market since before the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
Nasser said Aramco was looking globally at liquefied natural
gas (LNG) market opportunities, when asked about potential
acquisitions in the year ahead.
The company is in "active talks and discussions" in terms of
LNG investments, he said without elaborating.
Nasser cautioned that he still did not see enough investment
to sustain demand in the long term going into the sector, saying
that supply wouldn't be adequate in the mid- to long term if
that trend continued.
"We need to make sure that there is additional supply in the
market otherwise this tightness of supply in the mid- to long
term will have an impact."
($1 = 3.7540 riyals)
(Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by
Hugh Lawson and Sharon Singleton)
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