Riyadh. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia has ordered a halt to oil exploration operations to save the hydrocarbon wealth in the world's top crude exporting nation for future generations, the official Saudi Press Agency, or SPA, reported late on Saturday. "I was heading a cabinet meeting and told them to pray to God the Almighty to give it a long life," King Abdullah told Saudi scholars studying in Washington, according to SPA.
"I told them that I have ordered a halt to all oil explorations so part of this wealth is left for our sons and successors God willing," he said.
Saudi Arabia, the largest member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped oil unchanged at 8.26 million barrels a day in June, a survey by Dow Jones Newswires showed on Thursday. The kingdom is pumping about 209,000 barrels above its target.
Oman oil reserves fell 3pc in 2009
Oman's oil reserves slipped just over 3 per cent in 2009 as the country failed to find as much oil as it produced, according to official data in the country's annual central bank report.
Oman is a small independent oil producer in a region housing OPEC's largest crude exporters, but its oil has a big influence on international markets, as it is used in benchmark pricing for around 12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude exported from the Middle East to Asia.
The sultanate is drilling more wells to better understand the amount of oil in its Al Ghubar South field, which it estimates could contain a billion barrels. That would add over 20 per cent to its reserves.
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