Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has called on UAE Minister of Energy and Industry Suhail Mohammed Al Marzouei to include in the June 22 meeting of the organization in Vienna ways and means to support OPEC members targeted by sanctions.
“I would like to ... seek OPEC’s support in accordance with Article 2 of the OPEC Statute, which emphasizes safeguarding the interests of member countries individually and collectively,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Shana.
Al Mazrouei will hold the OPEC presidency this year and will be chairing the upcoming meeting.
Referring to Article 2, which emphasizes safeguarding the interests of member countries individually and collectively, the minister asked Marzouei to instruct the secretariat to include a separate agenda item under the title “OPEC Ministerial Conference support to the Member Countries that are under illegal, unilateral and extraterritorial sanctions”.
US President Donald Trump earlier this month pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran and announced the “highest level” of sanctions against the OPEC member.
Iran is the third-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Zanganeh also suggested in the letter that Iran was not in agreement with some OPEC ministers’ recent comments on the oil market.
He said some OPEC ministers “have implicitly or unwittingly spoken for the organization, expressing views that might be perceived as the official position of OPEC”.
The energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia said last week they were prepared to ease output cuts to calm consumer worries about supply.
Raising output would bring an end to about 18 months of strict supply curbs amid concerns that oil prices have risen too far. Oil prices have hit their highest since late 2014, rising above $80.50 a barrel this month, but have since eased.
Since the original sanctions were lifted, Iran has struggled to raise production above 4 million barrels per day due to a lack of new projects and the caution of western investors.
So, if OPEC decides to increase supplies, Iran is likely to benefit less than Saudi Arabia because it would struggle to raise output while it would also be hit by lower oil prices.
Zanganeh also said that if the latest US sanctions threat was resolved “Iran reserves the right to return to its oil market share in the shortest possible time and resumes its normal production-level and will not accept any limitations in this regard”.
According to a separate letter seen by Reuters, UAE’s Mazrouei replied that there were two options to approach Iran’s request.
The first would be having the OPEC governors review the Iranian appeal and include it on the agenda for the OPEC meeting in November. The alternative would be to include Iran’s request in the June meeting under “any other business” as a “request from Iran”, Mazrouei replied.
OPEC governors meet next in October.
