Yemisi Izuora- Agency Report
Iran is likely not going the way of some OPEC members itching to bring stability in the oil price.
The country’s oil minister says the Iran will not abandon its share in the oil market, adding he will ‘certainly’ attend Doha oil producers meeting ‘if he has time.’
Bijan Zanganeh told Mehr News that Iran will continue increasing its oil production and exports until it reaches its position on the market before the imposition of sanctions, saying “the agreement between the world’s top OPEC and non-OPEC exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze output at January levels is a positive step.”
Regarding his possible participation at Doha oil producers meeting in April, the Iranian oil minister said he would certainly attend the meeting ‘if he had time.’
OPEC and non-OPEC producers will meet in the Qatari capital Doha on April 17 to hold talks on a deal to freeze output at January levels to support the global oil market.
On the sidelines of his meeting with Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak in March, Zanganeh had told reporters that if the market were to be left as it is, it would take perhaps 1.5 to 2 years for the market to be stabilized; “but if world’s top oil producers intervene, this could be achieved in less than a year,” he said.
So far, Russia, Oman and Nigeria have officially backed Iran’s exclusion from the output freeze, although some Arab countries are pushing for Iran to join the initiative.
“Asking Iran to freeze its oil production level is illogical… when Iran was under sanctions, some countries raised their output and they caused the drop in oil prices,” Iran’s OPEC envoy, Mehdi Asali, had said in February.
In support of the Russian-Saudi initiative aimed at tackling a growing oversupply and helping prices recover from their lowest in over a decade, Qatar has invited all OPEC and non-OPEC members to attend talks on April 17 on a deal to freeze output to stablize the global oil market.