In the wake of 168th session of OPEC’s meeting in Vienna, Ministry of Petroleum Secretary for OPEC Affairs Mahdi Asali said Bijan Zanganeh has recently sent a letter to OPEC’s Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri calling for the reduction of the member countries’ production ceiling to 30 million barrels per day as well as highlighting two issues.
Asali undelined that the oil minister has urged OPEC members to adhere to the production ceiling they agreed upon in 2011 in order to stabilize the market; “currently, while the production was supposed to be 30 million barrels daily, it has reached 31.3 million barrels per day,” he asserted.
“It is clear which countries have produced more than their quota,” maintained the country's representative to OPEC explaining “although Iran’s production has been more than now, sanctions have caused production and exports to drop by 4.2 and 2.6 million barrels respectively.”
The official recalled that crude oil production for some countries has increased to a degree that it has exceeded their output level; “Accordingly, the first step would be a return to the ceiling of 30 million barrels while as part of the second stage Iran will return to previous production and exports levels once international sanctions against the country are lifted since they were imposed on Iran’s oil industry from the outside without being a voluntary act,” he stressed.
In response to a question about OPEC secretary general’s reaction to Zanganeh’s letter, Asali said “we were not looking for a reaction rather it was a request for adherence to commitments as well as announcing Iran’s intention to return to previous quotas.”
Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh had previously told IRIB that some OPEC countries exploit oil as a political tool and the production ceiling will remain unchanged at the summit ahead of OPEC.
The 168th Meeting of the Conference of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will convene on Friday, 4th December, 2015, in Vienna, Austria.
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