Saudi Arabian Oil Production Update  

Stuart at Early Warning has an update on Saudi oil production - Saudi Arabian Oil Production.

The above graph shows Saudi production of crude and condensate (ie oil) from 1995 through July. There are several data sources, but the black line is the average. The red curve is the number of oil rigs working in the country, and is a rough proxy for the level of effort being made to maintain or increase production. ...

It is unclear how much further Saudi Arabia could increase production - they never provide sufficient detail to verify claims as to spare capacity. The conservative view is that they can only increase to previously demonstrated levels - in this case, that is only a few hundred kbd above the present level. If that were the case, a fairly modest disruption in oil supply anywhere on the planet would be enough to trigger sharp price increases (much as the Arab Spring did).