Zanganeh Will Attend OPEC Meeting

Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh will visit Vienna on Wednesday to participate in the annual meeting of OPEC ministers on May 25. The 13-member group will discuss extending an agreement to cut crude supplies into 2018, ISNA reported. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced a deal on November 30 to cut back output by 1.2 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de facto leader, is responsible for nearly 40% of the cuts. Iran was exempt from the deal because it is gradually  recovering from sanctions that curtailed its market share. Russia, the world's largest non-OPEC producer, has backed the extension to March 2018. Earlier this month, Zanganeh voiced Tehran's willingness to support an extension of the current supply cut accord. "Iran will go along with whatever decision OPEC makes at its meeting later this month on whether to extend oil production cuts beyond June," he said, noting that all indications are that the members want a renewal of the deal and we will go along with what they agree."