01 May 2017, Tehran — Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh voiced Iran’s support for a recent decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to extend OPEC’s oil freeze deal.
“If a majority of OPEC and non-OPEC states agree to extend the oil freeze deal, Iran will go with other members similar to the past,” Zangeneh told reporters after his meeting with European Commissioner for Energy Miguel Arias Cañete.
The Iranian oil minister underlined that positive signals have been received for extending the six-month oil freeze deal in the second half of 2017 and Iran will accompany other member-states of OPEC if they support the extension.
In relevant remarks in mid-April, Zangeneh voiced Tehran’s support for continuing crude output cuts by OPEC.
“Most of the oil producers support an extension of the agreement which reached among OPEC member-states last year,” Zangeneh said.
He reiterated that extending a crucial oil output agreement by world’s biggest producers helped stabilize prices in markets since its implementation.
In December 2016, the OPEC reached a landmark agreement with Russia and other non-members to proceed with the plan and slash oil production by nearly 1.8 million barrels a day for six months starting January 2017.
The agreement exempted key member Iran from the plan, allowing it to increase its production by 90,000 bpd to reach pre-sanction levels of around 4 million bpd.
Nigeria and Libya were also exempted from the planned output cut due to internal conflicts which have already decreased their crude production.