So long as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries defends Iran’s legitimate interests alongside other members, Tehran will support the group, Iran's OPEC governor said.
"All OPEC members should denounce, openly and in practice, the use [abuse] of oil as a political weapon for imposing sanctions and piling pressure on producing countries," Amir Hossein Zamaninia told ILNA.
Sixty years after its formation, OPEC's founding members, Iran and Venezuela, have been sidelined by US sanctions while its kingpin and a close US-ally, Saudi Arabia, has shown it would rather appease Washington than risk losing US support, he added.
Iran's share of OPEC output has nearly halved to 7.5% since 2010 while Venezuela's has collapsed to 2.3% from almost 10%, according to Reuters calculations based on OPEC data. Saudi Arabia's share, meanwhile, has risen 7% to reach 35%.
"We will stand up for OPEC as long as the interests of our country are upheld in a balanced way with other members. Membership in no international organization is mandatory," Zamaninia said.
Until the world economy has not returned to the pre-coronavirus state, it would be impossible to offer a realistic outlook about the future of global oil demand, he opined.
Steep Fall
OPEC said on Monday world oil demand will fall more steeply in 2020 than previously forecast due to the coronavirus and recover more slowly than expected next year, potentially making it harder for the group and its allies to support the market.
To tackle a drop in demand, OPEC and its allies, a grouping known as known as OPEC+, agreed to a record supply cut of 9.7 million barrels per day that started on May 1, while the United States and other nations said they would pump less.
In August, OPEC+ eased its cuts to 7.7 million bpd as demand partially recovered.
The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee will meet on Thursday to discuss the performance of the deal so far.
Zamaninia says there is a direct link between the unilateral US sanctions and the prevailing money laundering in the international oil market.
Put simply, countries like Iran which cannot sell oil legally have to resort to illegal channels that entails corruption.
Not denying the negative impact of the illegal US restrictions on the people's well-being, he said the European powers are not strong enough to resist US bullying in international markets, especially in banking and finance.
Political Weapon
In related news, the parliamentary news website ICANA, quoted Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the Oil Minister, as saying that OPEC members have turned the organization into a political weapon to oppose two founding members -- Iran and Venezuela.
The minister said two governments in the Middle East are showing increasing hostility against Iran. “We are not their enemy, but they are showing hostility towards us and are using oil as a weapon in the global market.”
“We have always said that the oil market should be apolitical and not be used as a weapon. I believe that these countries will engineer the end of OPEC. We want OPEC to survive and persevere.”
Although Zanganeh did not name names, it was obvious that he was referring to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – two of the US’ closest allies in the Persian Gulf and oil states where America has a significant military presence.
