Iran’s oil minister said on Friday that Tehran will cooperate with Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to stabilize the world market, but expects others to respect its rights, the ministry’s news agency SHANA quoted him as saying.
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Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh on Friday said his country wanted its pre-sanctions share of the crude market, in comments that suggested Tehran might not be on board with efforts in the Opec cartel to agree on an output cap together with Russian Federation.
“Iran will continue cooperating with OPEC members but we expect that the right to revive our market share not to be ignored”, he added. However, as seen in the graph below the pair found a recovery as the Saudi Arabia rejected the idea of an output freeze once again.
Brent for October settlement dropped 12 cents to $49.55 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
An “intervention of significance” is not required for the market, Al-Falih said in an interview Thursday in Los Angeles. “A freeze signifies that everybody is content with where the market is today and they want it to be trending in that direction”, Al-Falih said. “I certainly don’t advocate a cut”.
“Most of the OPEC countries are sending a signal that they’re open to freezing production, but you have to remember that majority are producing at peak levels”, BMI Research oil and gas analyst Peter Lee told AFP.
“I think yesterday’s Saudi comments were supportive”, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. The meeting of Opec and other producing countries in April ended without agreement in Doha, when Saudi Arabia demanded that Iran be part of any deal to limit output.
Opec output increased to 33.2 million barrels a day in July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Taking back the country’s lost share in the market remains as the will of Iranian people, noted Zanganeh.
He also confirmed Iran’s presence in the 15th International Energy Forum (IEF15) to be held in Algiers from 26-28 September adding “when instability occurred in the market, Iran’s oil production barely stood at 2.7 million barrels and its export volume was less than one million barrels per day”.
“It’s not just the matter of a production freeze or a cap, but there are geopolitical concerns involved too, especially when it comes to Iran and Saudi Arabia”, he said.
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Oil minister also said on Thursday that OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo will visit Tehran “in the near future”.
