“Asking Iran to freeze its oil production level is illogical”, he said. The U.S. benchmark surged 5.6 percent in the previous session to close at $30.66 a barrel. “After fighting to end sanctions for years and finally being free of them, why Iran would choose to put sanctions on themselves by freezing their production?”
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“Without a commitment from Iran to hold production at current levels there’s really no change in the expected future production that would provide fundamental support for prices”, Evans said.
Dominant OPEC power Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia, the world’s top two producers and exporters, agreed on Tuesday to freeze production levels but said the deal was contingent on others joining in – a major sticking point with Iran absent from the talks and determined to raise production.
“These countries increased their production by 4 million barrels when Iran was under sanctions”, Asali was quoted as saying by Iran’s Shargh daily.
Mr Zanganeh did not mention if Iran, the second-biggest Opec producer before sanctions were intensified in 2012, would deviate from plans to restore exports after the lifting of penalties last month.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, pictured on November 28, 2015, welcomed a move by Saudi Arabia …
And Barton says the ability of USA producers to ship oil to overseas markets will only lead to increased us production.
The United Arab Emirates’ energy minister, Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei’s, refused on Wednesday to discuss the Doha proposal after giving a keynote address at a Dubai conference in which he mentioned low oil prices only in passing.
Both Brent and WTI crude were showing positive gains today on the back of Iran’s support for a production freeze, and a 753 MBO draw on USA crude oil inventories, but what markets are hoping for is a cut in production, not a cap.
This morning, the energy ministers of Venezuela, Iran, Iraq and OPEC president Qatar met in Tehran to convince both Iran and Iraq to agree to the freeze.
But oil analysts said Iran was likely to remain steadfast in its bid to protect and expand its global market share.
Iranian OPEC envoy Mahdi Asali said Iran would continue to pump more with the goal of achieving pre-sanctions crude output levels.
This deal marks the first significant cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producers in 15 years and Saudi Arabia said it’s open to further action.
Iran used to export 2.3 million barrels a day, but it has been limited to one million barrels a day since 2011.
The only interest they share is maintaining their respective market share and that includes making sure that non-Opec members do not win market share.
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“I think Saudi Araba has a plan and they’re sticking to it”, he said.
