Saudi Aramco is in no hurry to expand its oil production capacity to 13 million bpd as it said it would last year just as the pandemic was beginning to spread across the world. The company’s chief executive said during the webcast presenting Aramco’s results that the capacity increase will come gradually rather than all at once, even though work could accelerate if demand recovers to such a degree that it becomes necessary. Amin Nasser said last March that the Saudi Energy Ministry had instructed the company to boost production capacity from 12 million bpd to 13 million bpd in response to Russia’s refusal to deepen production cuts agreed to by OPEC+ members. The price war did not last long; the pandemic soon began to take its toll on oil demand, eventually leading to much deeper production cuts—including by Russia—and shelving any plans for a production capacity boost. Before […]