Saudi Arabia expects to increase its production capacity by more than one million barrels to exceed 13 million barrels by early 2027, according to the energy minister of Saudi Arabia.
Most likely it will be 13.2 to 13.4 million barrels per day, bpd, but that would be reached at the end of 2026, beginning 2027, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told an energy conference in Bahrain.
If the market allows it, production would be maintained at that level.
In March 2020, Saudi Aramco announced that it had been directed by the energy ministry to increase its maximum sustainable capacity from 12 million to 13 million barrels per day.
A surge in oil prices stemming from the Ukraine war helped boost the first quarter profits of Saudi energy giant Aramco, which posted an 82 percent jump in first quarter profits.
The results helped Aramco dethrone Apple last week as the world's most valuable company by market value.
Aramco has faced security challenges because of the war, in which a Saudi-led military coalition was formed against Yemen's Huthi rebels who have repeatedly targeted the kingdom, including Aramco sites.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has resisted US orders to raise output in an attempt to rein in prices that have spiked since the Ukraine war broke out on February 24.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stressed their commitment to the OPEC oil alliance, which is led by Riyadh and Moscow, underscoring Riyadh's and Abu Dhabi's increasing independence from long-standing ally Washington as the war began.
A year ago, Saudi Arabia pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by the year 2060 ahead of the COP 26 climate-change summit, sparking scepticism from the environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
With increasing global urgency to limit global warming, experts warn of the need to reduce fossil fuel use.
For the coming decade, Saudi officials have stated that they still believe in oil as a source of energy, according to Mark Alsudairi, head of research at Al Rajhi Capital, a financial services firm in Riyadh.
They are not following the global trend by reducing exposure to hydrocarbons. At Monday's conference in Bahrain, Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail said his country was accelerating its production capacity goals, targeting six million barrels per day in 2027 and eight million barrels per day in 2029.
In March, Iraq reported $11 billion in oil revenues, its highest in half a century.