“If [OPEC urgent meeting] is convened, it will have an impact on oil prices. The urgent meeting must be held with all OPEC members in attendance; it is only through such consensus that one can say all members have decided to reach results,” Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters on Sunday on the sidelines of his meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
While stressing that Iran does not oppose the convening of OPEC extraordinary meeting, Zanganeh added “I find it unlikely that some countries with political agendas to reduce oil prices would agree to this meeting.”
The Iranian oil minister noted that the most important issue in regard to oil prices drop is the world’s economic problems, adding “prior to this, the issue mostly evolved around the oil supply boost in the market due to productions of shale oil and shale gas, but at the moment a country such as China is suffering from lack of demand due to economic crisis.”
Zanganeh called on OPEC to play its part in managing oil production, especially those countries which have produced large quantities of oil in the past years and made considerable profits because of it.
“The political atmosphere inside OPEC especially in regard to the Persian Gulf littoral states is in turmoil and it hasn’t become suitable yet for holding negotiations,” he said.
Zanganeh further added that Iran would increase its oil production at any cost; “we have no other options. This is not the policy of the Oil Ministry but the government. If Iran does not increase its oil production in time, we will permanently lose our share in the global market," he said.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh held a meeting today with the British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond who arrived in Tehran this morning to attend the reopening ceremony of the British Embassy.