Speaking to Bloomberg, Kazempour Ardebili said the three OPEC founders, including Iran, Venezuela and Iraq, are going to stop a proposal to increase oil production that’s backed by Saudi Arabia and Russia during the OPEC meeting in Vienna on June 22.
“If the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Russia want to increase production, this requires unanimity. If the two want to act alone, that’s a breach of the cooperation agreement,” he added.
According to some sources, Saudi Arabia has been discussing different scenarios to raise production by between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day.
“We call upon our brothers in OPEC and Russia that we do not need to appease Trump, who sanctions two OPEC founders and also Russia,” the Iranian OPEC envoy said. “We are sovereign nations driven by our own responsibilities and values. The whole world has to stand against these arrogant attitudes -- and will.”
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week that US sanctions will cause Iran and Venezuela to potentially lose almost 30 percent of their oil output next year.
Kazempour went on to add that “no changes took place in market fundamentals, although” the US Energy Information Administration and IEA “rushed to say differently.”
“The market is well-supplied, and OPEC should abide by its decision up to the end of the year,” he said. “I am confident many other OPEC members feel and act the same.”
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