Saudi Oil Output Rises by 7.3% in First Quarter, Al Rajhi Says

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, increased its daily oil output by 7.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to replace a fall in output from other OPEC member countries, Al Rajhi Capital said in a report.

The investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s largest lender by market value said today that it expects the price of West Texas Intermediate crude to average $93 a barrel this year, up by $6 from its previous estimate, as prices have advanced globally since February.

Based on current average prices of WTI and Saudi’s Arab Light crude, the investment bank said that it expects the country’s oil sector to grow by 6.6 percent on average in 2011. Non-oil private industries, which include petrochemicals producers, will grow by 5.5 percent, it said.

Saudi Arabia pumped 8.66 million barrels of oil a day on average in March, down 4 percent from its output of 9.02 million a day in the previous month, government data posted on the Joint Organization Data Initiative website on May 18 showed.

Bloomberg