Saudi oil min says pumping 9 mbpd, no OPEC comment

SINGAPORE, Nov 27 (Reuters) Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Tuesday that the kingdom was producing 9 million barrels per day (bpd), but declined to say whether he believed OPEC should increase production when it meets next week.

''When we meet on the fifth we will look at all the information available, and decide accordingly, on whatever the information tells us about supply, demand, inventories, and decide accordingly,'' Naimi told reporters in Singapore, where he was due to speak at an energy conference.

At 9 million bpd, Saudi production would be up about 200,000 bpd versus a Reuters survey estimate for October, the month before the cartel implemented a 500,000 bpd increase. O] When asked when OPEC would increase supplies to the market, he said: ''How do you expect me to know that? ''Price is determined by the market, so let's leave it at that.

It goes up, it goes down, that's what the market does,'' he said, when asked whether he was concerned by high prices, which have surged more than 40 percent since mid-August to near 0.

Iran's oil minister said at the weekend that some ministers within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries were advocating an increase in production at the group's Dec. 5 meeting in Abu Dhabi, although most officials have said publicly that they do not believe the market is short of crude oil.

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