The global economic distress and ensuing drop in crude demand have depressed the market share of Saudi Arabia but the world's oil superpower expects a resurgence of that oil after the crisis.

The government-owned Saudi Aramco, which runs the kingdom's hydrocarbon industry, said oil would remain the main source of energy and driver of the world economy for the foreseeable future despite global efforts to lessen reliance on crude.

"The energy sector sustains and powers all other economic sectors. Oil will continue to play a vital role as the main source of energy for the foreseeable future and is needed to propel economic development forward," said Khalid Al Falih, Saudi Aramco's President and CEO.

"This means that the kingdom, being blessed with the largest oil reserves in the world, will remain at the epicenter of world economic development and will maintain its position as the most reliable energy supplier to the world… This position will be further bolstered and grow in prominence as the world economy inevitably recovers from this recession," Al Falih told Saudi oil engineers at a conference in Dhahran this week.

Saudi Arabia sits atop around 265 billion barrels of proven oil reserves but Aramco officials have spoken of a far larger oil wealth in place. The reserves account for nearly a quarter of the world's extractable crude resources while the kingdom's oil output of more than nine million barrels per day last year exceeded 10 per cent of the world's total crude supplies.