The next oil minister should help boost exports and restore Iran’s lost market share, which has been damaged by US sanctions, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said after the 181st Meeting of the OPEC Conference, which was held online on Thursday.
“I am happy that I have carried this huge burden of responsibility on my shoulder for years and I hope to put it down safely, properly and honestly. I asked all OPEC members to support the next oil minister,” the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana quoted Zanganeh as saying.
Zanganeh, 68, has held the post for 16 of the past 24 years. He served as the country’s oil minister from 1997 to 2005 and from 2013 till now.
The veteran minister, who will hand over his post to the next holder late August following the electoral victory of a conservative president-elect, said his successor’s main task would be to lift oil exports hammered by US sanctions.
“The organization expects the future administration in Iran to make careful plans for a return to the international oil market as the country is expected to be relieved of more than three years of sanctions imposed by the United States,” he added.
Iran has been exempted from a series of cuts to global supply agreed between OPEC and allies, a group known as OPEC+. The country is already injecting more oil into the market, as buyers prepare for a potential easing of sanctions if Tehran and world powers agree to revive a 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by the former US government in 2018.
The return of Iranian supplies is expected to affect prices that have been recovering as a result of the easing of coronavirus restrictions around the world.
Output, Exports on the Rise
Latest OPEC figures show that Iran has had the highest monthly increase in oil production to above 2.5 million barrels per day in May.
The figure is still below the 3.8 million bpd of output recorded before the illegal US sanctions were imposed.
Oil exports, Iran’s main revenue source, have plunged under US sanctions. Tehran does not disclose export data, but assessments based on shipping and other sources suggest a fall from about 2.8 million barrels per day in 2018 to as low as 200,000 bpd. One survey put exports at 600,000 bpd in June.
Iran is in talks with the United States and other world powers about reviving the nuclear pact, which could lead to the lifting of US sanctions.
In the opening address to the 181st Meeting of the OPEC Conference, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum and President of the OPEC Conference Diamantino Pedro Azevedo appreciated the efforts of Zanganeh at OPEC and said, “You have provided noble leadership, wise counsel and technical knowledge to the OPEC conference for many years, and have been instrumental in our organization’s many achievements.”
“OPEC has also benefited immensely from your leadership and vital contributions to the Declaration of Cooperation from the very beginning in 2016, and notably in April 2020 when the Participating Countries reacted decisively to the global collapse of oil demand resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. As the longest serving OPEC minister, your wisdom and experience will be deeply missed. It has been an immense pleasure to work with you, and I wish you and your family good fortune in the years to come,” Azevedo said.
