Saudi Arabia will spend US$20 billion on boosting its oil production capacity in the coming years, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said, as quoted by Reuters. Earlier this week, the Kingdom’s top oil man said, during the Russia Energy Forum in Moscow, that the country was pumping 10.7 million bpd , with current production capacity standing at 12 million bpd, as per the Reuters report. These numbers mean that OPEC’s biggest producer and exporter has spare capacity of 1.3 million bpd, based on the self-reported September production figure, which might add anxiety to an already distressed market that has recently begun to question Saudi Arabia’s ability to boost oil production enough to offset the drop in supply widely expected after the entry into effect of U.S. sanctions against Iran, OPEC’s third-largest producer. The investment pledge will do little to assuage the worry: optimists believed Saudi Arabia has the capacity ready […]