Jum'ah pointed to Saudi Arabia's unmatched reserves base of 260 billion barrels of crude oil and Saudi Aramco's extensive production, processing and distribution infrastructure as factors that help to safeguard the U.S.'s energy future. U.S. demand for oil is predicted to grow from 20.6 million barrels per day (bpd) to almost 28 million bpd by 2025, while U.S. domestic production is expected to drop by almost a million bpd during that period, Jum'ah said. U.S. forecasts say Saudi capacity will need to grow from its current 11 million bpd to over 23 million bpd to meet world demand. Jum'ah said it's difficult to say whether this call on Saudi crude will materialize. "Nevertheless," he added, "the Kingdom is uniquely positioned because of its reserves and resources to consider raising its production by such a margin." Jum'ah posed the rhetorical question: "Can Saudi Arabia and Saudi Aramco step up and deliver?" Answering an emphatic "yes," he cited several supporting factors, including the Kingdom's 260 billion barrels of reserves, with the prospect of adding another 200 billion barrels through an aggressive exploration program currently under way. "We have adopted a long-range view in our reservoir management strategies in order to maximize the ultimate recovery from our fields," he said. Jum'ah pointed to Saudi Aramco's extensive production, processing and transportation infrastructure, which the company is expanding to accommodate a 12 million bpd capacity. This includes the Saudi commitment to maintain 1.5 to 2 million bpd of spare production capacity. "Our individual facilities are designed with numerous backup systems, and the network as a whole is also configured with multiple redundancies," Jum'ah said. Jum'ah noted that in seven decades of operation, the company has never once failed to meet a supply commitment to one of its customers for operational reasons.--MORE1142 Local Time 0842 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/263271