Iran supports any measure to improve crude prices
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Wednesday that Tehran supports any move which would help stabilize oil market and improve crude prices.
He made the remarks after a meeting with visiting Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino, Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and Qatari Energy Minister Mohammad bin Saleh al-Sada in Tehran, Shana reported. The discussions in Tehran followed a meeting in Qatari capital where Saudi Arabia and Russia announced their decision to freeze output in a bid to shore up prices after a 70 percent drop due to chronic oversupply. The announcement of the freeze marked the first move between OPEC and non-cartel producers to stem the price fall since the slide began nearly 19 months ago. It followed a closed-door meeting between Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar and Russia, which does not belong to the oil cartel. Iranian oil minister also said Tehran welcomes cooperation between members of OPEC and non-OPEC producers. Zanganeh said Iran supports the decision made by OPEC and non-OPEC producers to freeze output ceiling. He also said the return of Iran to the oil market in the post-sanctions era was discussed during the Wednesday meeting. Saudi Arabia stole a march on other OPEC members in producing well over its quota to replace Iranian barrels when Tehran had to slash its output by more than 1 million bpd under sanctions in 2012. Iran has repeatedly called on those producers to return to their original levels but those calls have fallen on deaf ears so far.