Abu Dhabi: Iran will not commit to any oil output freeze, the country’s representative to the Opec said on Wednesday a day ahead of the group’s meeting in Vienna, adding that output rationing could be discussed only when the market had been stabilised.
“Iran supports Opec’s efforts to bring stability to the market with fair and logical prices, but it will not commit to any output freeze,” Mahdi Asali was quoted as saying by Iranian oil ministry news agency Shan.
“The issue of output rationing can be discussed after the market stabilises,” he added.
Meanwhile, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said Iran has not negatively affected the oil market by doubling its crude oil exports.
“Iran having doubled its crude exports has not influenced the market negatively and the boost has been well absorbed by the market,” he said.
Edward Bell, a commodity analyst at Emirates NBD said Iran is going to continue to increase its own production back to pre-sanction levels.
“I don’t think it’s going to accept production cuts or freeze at the Opec meet. Iran has done tremendous work to increase production so far this year.”
Iran and Saudi Arabia have political differences and are competing for market share. A deal to freeze production at January levels failed in Doha in April after Saudi Arabia insisted Iran join the agreement.
