Saudi Arabia is approaching the point of maximum oil production capacity and could theoretically raise output by 1.5 million barrels a day from 10.5 million bpd currently, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
However, Riyadh could reportedly even have issues sustaining multi-month production of 11 million bpd, while the 12 million bpd level could be kept only over a few weeks' time due to maintenance and other technical obstacles. Saudi Arabia still plans to raise output to 13 million bpd by 2027, but no significant moves to hit the target are expected before 2025.
According to the report, any production increase that the OPEC+ alliance could opt for at its August 3 meeting may turn out to be insufficient to affect the global oil market. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are other OPEC+ countries that could slightly raise output, but others are producing oil at their full capacities.
