Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia is planning to reduce oil production to around 9.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, from 11 million in November.

The kingdom’s oil exports will decline to 6.9 million bpd next month, the Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih said during an interview with the Financial Times (FT).

Al-Falih stated that Saudi Arabia intended to develop an international energy exploration and production business, despite the GCC country’s endeavours to wean the economy off oil revenue, the UK-based newspaper reported.

“We are no longer going to be inward-looking and focused only on monetising the kingdom’s resources. Going forward the world is going to be Saudi Aramco’s playground,” al-Falih noted.

Earlier in February, two sources at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) revealed that Saudi Arabia’s crude oil production reached 10.24 million bpd in January.