The Saudi governor for Opec, Adeeb al-Aama, has said that concerns his country will substantially oversupply the oil market are “without basis”. His comments came in a statement that committed the kingdom to working with its partners, and that exports in July will be roughly equal to exports in June.

He said exports in August are expected to be about 100,000 barrels a-day (b/d) less.

US President Donald Trump has urged Saudi Arabia to increase exports to offset reduced exports from Iran and to stop global oil prices from spiking.

Over the last 12 months the price of Brent crude has risen from less than $50 to more than $70.

Al-Aama stressed that Saudi Arabia “does not try to push oil into the market beyond its customers’ needs”.

Official figures show Saudi Arabia exported an average of 6.984 million b/d in May. In June it exported around 7.2 million b/d according to a Reuters report that cited an anonymous source.

On 21 July Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backed President Hassan Rouhani’s suggestion that Iran may block Gulf oil exports if its own exports are stopped. He also said negotiations with the US would be an “obvious mistake”.

Rouhani’s threat to disrupt oil shipments from neighbouring countries comes as US sanctions loom. US President Donald Trump announced American withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement on 8 May, making the return of US sanctions on Iran almost inevitable.

While many of these sanctions are due to return on 6 August, penalties focusing on oil will return 90 days later, on 4 November.

Some analysts say that Iran’s oil exports could fall by two-thirds by the end of the year because of US sanctions.