Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, probably needs to boost shipments this year to keep pace with record government spending , according to a former adviser to the nation’s finance ministry. The country needs to at least match the 7.54 million barrels a day it shipped last year and will probably need to sell more, John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at Riyadh-based MASIC, an investment company , said by phone today. He previously worked as chief economist for two Saudi Arabian banks and worked in the ministry of finance as a full-time adviser between 2011 and 2013. Extra shipments could be negative for oil prices because of expanding supplies elsewhere. Iran, Iraq and Libya , among countries with the world’s biggest reserves, will pump more crude this year, according to the most accurate forecasters surveyed by Bloomberg in December. Saudi Arabia is known as a swing producer as […]