Rebound in oil price to $100 seen unlikely by Saudis amid shale surge

Oil won't rebound to $100 a barrel because increased prices would draw more shale and other output from higher-cost producers to the market, said Mohammed al-Madi, Saudi Arabia's governor to OPEC.

"It will be difficult to reach $100 or $120 another time," al-Madi said at a conference in Riyadh on Sunday. "This will let the high-cost producers come back again." Saudi Arabia, the nation leading OPEC in defending its share of the global crude market, is pumping about 10 million barrels a day of crude, the country's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said. That's close to the record amount it produced in 2013.

Brent oil, the global benchmark, declined almost 50 percent in the past year as Saudi Arabia and others in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries committed to maintain output amid a global surplus. The kingdom is able to meet demand from any customer, al-Naimi said at the conference.