(Bloomberg) — Saudi Aramco (SE: ) – The demand for oil is close to pre-Covid levels. It also reiterated the fact that supply and demand are being slashed by global producers.

“We are getting very close to pre-pandemic levels,” Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser told reporters on Monday in Dhahran, where the world’s biggest oil company is based. “We continue to see healthy demand in the future.”

As the coronavirus pandemic spread and shut down factories, consumption dropped to about 100 million barrels daily in 2020. As of September, the International Energy Agency which provides advice to rich countries said that it was back at almost 98million barrels per day.

Prices have risen 13% to $85 per barrel this year as the demand for oil continues to rise and the economic impact of the Omicron virus has been less than traders initially believed. In the meantime, production is declining at several large producers.

There’s no sign yet that rising prices are causing consumers to cut back on oil, Nasser said.

Saudi Arabian officials and He also warned of an increase in crude oil if Western governments or energy companies do not stop using fossil fuels quickly enough.

The Persian Gulf nations are one of the few that still spend billions to boost their production. Saudi Arabia will increase its daily crude production capacity from 12 million to 13 million barrels by 2027.

Nasser said that Aramco would continue to consider asset sales, regardless of how much oil is being traded. After the outbreak of the virus caused crude oil to crash, Aramco began plans for divestment. It sold its stakes in the oil- and natural gas pipelines to BlackRock Inc. last year for approximately $28 billion.

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