Zanganeh send the letter on Monday to HE Khalid Al-Fatih, Saudi Arabian Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, and Chairman of the JMMC.
The following is the full copy of the correspondence made available to Shana by Mr. Zanganeh's office.
Excellency,
This is being written to thank for Your Excellency's letter regarding the JMMC and report on the conformity level of the OPEC and non-OPEC participating countries in the "Declaration of Cooperation".
Resolution 174.153 adopted at the 174h Meeting of OPEC Conference is an important decision by Member Countries demonstrating their sense of responsibility to the OPEC's objectives, as stipulated in the Statute.
In accordance with the decision made at the 174th Meeting of the OPEC Conference, Member Countries committed themselves to reach production adjustment conformity level of 100%, as of 1st July 2018. However, the aforesaid decision neither warrants Member Countries the right to exceed their production level above the allocated production level decided at 171st Meeting of the OPEC Conference, nor the right to redistribute the unfulfilled production adjustment commitments among Member Countries.
With regard to the JMMC, I should emphasize that according to the decision made at the 171st Meeting of the OPEC Conference, the JMMC is not authorized to interpret the Conference decisions, but its only mission is monitoring and reporting the level of conformity of countries to their production adjustment commitments one by one as it has been practiced so far.
In my opinion, as far as production and adherence to quotas are concerned, only decisions adopted unanimously at OPEC Conference by Their Excellencies the OPEC Ministers are valid and shall constitute the basis for action by OPEC. To that effect, the JMMC, as per its mission, should continue to monitor and report production, and conformity levels of countries to their commitments for each country individually and one by one.
It would be highly appreciated if your Excellency could recommend the OPEC Secretariat to circulate the present letter among their Excellencies, heads of delegation of the OPEC Member Countries.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration and respect
LR/SHANA