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UAE oil minister says: Unclear if there’s OPEC consensus to raise production Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said all options were still open; Iranian oil minister wants more discussions before making a decision on output by The Associated Press
After further talks between OPEC members, there was still no consensus within the cartel March 12 on raising production at the end of March, the United Arab Emirates’ oil minister said.
The UAE’s Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said after meeting with his Iranian counterpart
that the decision on whether to raise production and by how much would be made
when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Vienna at the end of this month.
“For the time being, it is not clear whether we’ve reached a consensus. But OPEC will always make the right decision, and that decision will be made on March 27,” al Nasseri said.
“We are consulting with our colleagues and we are trying to reach an agreement on the level of production the market needs. It is wrong to determine a figure before the meeting,” he said.
He said all options were still open on whether to maintain or increase current output.
The United States has pressed oil producers to increase their output to halt rising oil prices, with some officials saying the market needs a supply increase of 2.5 million barrels a day.
Iranian position appears to be softening Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said before meeting with al-Nasseri that more discussions were needed before making a decision on output.
“How much and when we increase production depends on more consultations,” said Zanganeh, who has been touring Gulf nations to coordinate positions ahead of the
Vienna session.
After talks earlier with his Omani counterpart, Mohammed al-Rumhi, Zanganeh said
Iran’s current position is that it supports an extension of the ongoing OPEC production cut, which expires at the end of the month.
In agreements signed in 1998 and 1999, non-OPEC Oman joined OPEC and non-OPEC producers in removing about 5 million barrels a day from the market through March 31, 2000, to boost oil prices.
Consequently, crude has surged from $10.72 a barrel on Dec. 10, 1998 to a nine-year high of $34.20 in trading March 7 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Despite Zanganeh’s comments, Iran, generally a price hawk, has recognized that the international oil market currently needs more supplies. Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC producer, has indicated it wants to increase production to lower the prices.
A joint statement following a meeting between Zanganeh and his Saudi counterpart, Ali Naimi, in Riyadh on March 8 called for the need for “timely oil supplies” to ensure market stability.
That was taken as a strong indication Iran was on board to agree to a rise in OPEC production at the Vienna meeting.
Iran and the United Arab Emirates are major oil producers with output quotas of 3.359 million barrels per day and 2 million barrels per day respectively.
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