Saudi Arabia produces about 9.56 million barrels of crude per day (2025) and holds ~267.2 billion barrels of proven reserves (#2 worldwide). As OPEC's de facto leader and the holder of most of the world's spare production capacity, Saudi Arabia can move global prices with a single announcement — no other producer has that power.
| Measure | Value | As of / source |
|---|---|---|
| Crude production | 9.56 Mb/d | 2025 · EIA |
| Proven reserves (#2 worldwide) | 267.2 Bn bbl | 2023 · OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin |
| Spare capacity | ≈2–3 Mb/d — most of the world's total | IEA/OPEC estimates |
| Key fields | Ghawar (largest conventional field on earth), Safaniya (largest offshore) | Aramco |
| National company | Saudi Aramco — world's largest oil company | see biggest oil companies |
| Production cost | Among the lowest anywhere (a few $/bbl) | Aramco filings |
Rankings and comparisons: world production & consumption · reserves by country · OPEC production · biggest oil companies.
Saudi Arabia produces about 9.56 million barrels per day of crude oil (including lease condensate, 2025). Source: EIA international statistics.
Saudi Arabia holds roughly 267.2 billion barrels of proven crude reserves (OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin, 2023), the #2 largest in the world. Proven reserves shift with prices and technology — see the caveats on the oil-reserves page.
To support prices. As the lowest-cost large producer with the most spare capacity, Saudi Arabia sacrifices volume to defend price levels — usually alongside OPEC+ partners. The strategy works until high prices invite US shale growth or demand weakens, which is the perennial OPEC dilemma.
It has, deliberately, during price wars — 1986, 2014 and briefly March 2020, when Saudi barrels flooded out after a dispute with Russia and WTI later went negative. Flooding hurts its own revenues, so it's used as a discipline weapon, not a routine tool.