Teheran says considering Algeria plan
OIL OUTPUT CUT: Iran to assess proposal and discuss it at Vienna meeting
IRAN is assessing a proposal for a collective Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) output cut, but hasn’t announced any commitment to reduce its own production as the group tries to end disagreements about how to share the burden of supply cuts ahead of a meeting in Vienna.
Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa presented a proposal for an Opec cut of 1.1 million barrels a day during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, here, on Saturday, according to an Iranian Oil Ministry official. Opec was also proposing a 600,000 barrel a day output cut by non-Opec producers, said the official.
The two ministers discussed each country’s share of the proposed cut and Zanganeh said Iran would assess the proposal and discuss it further at the Vienna meeting on Wednesday, the official added.
Zanganeh, who didn’t comment on Iran’s position about cutting its own production, expressed optimism about the Opec meeting, said the official.
The Opec talks indicated that the group “can arrive at a lasting agreement on its output and market management”, said Zanganeh after the meeting, according to the Oil Ministry’s official news service, Shana. “If we reach an agreement, I am optimistic that prices will rise and the global economy requires such conditions.”
Boutarfa, the architect of the Algiers crude supply agreement in September, is on a shuttle diplomacy mission to try to resolve differences blocking the Opec deal, particularly the question of whether Iran and Iraq are willing to cut production. He is also due to meet with the Iraqi oil minister this week.
A production cut would help the oil price to rise to US$55-US$60 (RM244-RM267) a barrel, said Boutarfa, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry official. If no agreement was reached in Vienna this week, the price might remain under US$50 a barrel, he said.
All Opec members accepted the decisions adopted in Algiers, which proposed that the group’s production
says the latest talks indicated that members of Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries “can and market management”. Bloomberg pic
be reduced to a range of 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day, said Zanganeh, according to Shana.
“Right now the debate revolves around how to divide” the production cuts, he said.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has pulled out of talks with non-Opec producers, including Russia, planned for today because the exporters’ group still had no internal agreement on how to implement supply cuts, according to two delegates.
The setback suggests that Saudi Arabia remains split from its two biggest Gulf rivals at the Opec. With
less than a week until the crucial ministerial meeting, the refusal of just one major producer to participate could scuttle the whole deal, which is intended to curb supply and boost prices.
Iran, the group’s third-largest producer, has been insisting it should be allowed to keep increasing output to pre-sanctions levels of about four million barrels a day.
Iraq’s prime minister appeared earlier last week to accept joining the cuts, but it was unclear whether Baghdad is still disputing the Opec supply estimates that would provide the basis for any cuts. Bloomberg
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