S Arabia to keep oil production capacity at 12.5m barrels

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JEDDAH, Apr 24 (Bloomberg): Saudi Arabia, holder of the world's largest crude oil reserves, has no plans to raise production capacity beyond 12.5 million barrels a day, a Saudi Arabian oil official said. Reports that the country may boost its output capacity to 15 million barrels a day aren't true, the official said by telephone Sunday, declining to be identified by name because he isn't authorized to speak publicly. Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, a trade publication, reported on April 22 that the kingdom is considering raising capacity to 15 million barrels a day, without citing anyone. Saudi Arabia's OPEC Governor Majid al-Moneef said in a report on April 18 that the country will keep capacity at 12.5 million barrels a day for the next two decades. At an emergency oil summit that Saudi ruler King Abdullah convened in the port city of Jeddah in June 2008, the government said it could raise output capacity by an additional 2.5 million barrels a day, if needed, by developing untapped giant fields.