Mr. Bijan Namdar Zanganeh will depart for Algeria on Monday to participate in the forum September 26-28 where he will address the forum after Barkindo’s keynote address on the first day and also an address by Nourredine Bouterfa, Algeria’s Energy Minister.
Among the speakers are Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency and Dr. Sun Xiansheng, Secretary General of the International Energy Forum (IEF), inter alia.
The Forum is an important event where the fate of 90 per cent of oil and gas of the world is decided. Already, rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia has raised some doubts as to the likelihood of an oil freeze well-anticipated by OPEC and non-OPEC producers to bring a stability and a rise to oil prices. The event would be a turning point if Mr. Zanganeh of Iran and Mr. Falih of Saudi Arabia sacrifice politics in favor of a concerted effort to take the initiative in oil markets which will inevitably be to the benefit of both countries. Mr. Zanganeh told in a meeting with Barkindo earlier this week that Iran would set aside politics and sit in any session which would lead to more affordable oil prices. Saudi Arabia, feeling the pressure of deficits following the failure of Yemen campaign and squandering of resources there, is also pushed on the wall, if it is to survive the deficit threatening the kingdom’s reserves which was believed to amount to $800bn before Yemen war.
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