Saudi Arabia increased oil production in March to the highest in at least 12 years and expects crude prices to rise in the “near future,” according to oil minister Ali al-Naimi. The kingdom, which led the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last year in refusing to cut output, produced 10.3 million barrels a day last month and will keep pumping for now at around 10 million, al-Naimi said Tuesday at a conference in Riyadh. The March figure is the highest since at least 2002, when the Joint Organisations Data Initiative began compiling output statistics. OPEC will not cut production without cooperation from non-OPEC producers, al-Naimi said. Supply from Saudi Arabia, the biggest in OPEC, has added to a global glut that reduced oil prices by almost half since June. Russia is pumping oil at a rate close to the post-Soviet […]