A senior Iranian energy official criticized Russia and Saudi Arabia for ramping up oil output, saying they were breaking a production agreement between OPEC and Moscow and would strengthen the US effort to impose sanctions on Tehran. Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran's OPEC governor, notified Moscow that its output boost could endanger any long-term alliance between oil nations, Morning Star reported.
Russia, Saudi Arabia and others "are increasing production by 1 million barrels a day to squeeze the lifters of oil from Iran", Kazempour said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal. "They are extending their hand of support to Trump. It is a very unfriendly attitude towards us."
About a week ago, Russia announced it was boosting its production by 250,000 barrels a day, producing far above its quota set in late 2016, when OPEC and oil-producing countries agreed to cut output by 1.8 million barrels a day to shore up collapsing oil prices. Saudi Arabia by the end of June had also surpassed its allocation by about 460,000 barrels a day and increased its output by an additional 340,000 barrels a day, according to Vienna-based consultancy JBC.
Washington is set to reimpose secondary sanctions on Tehran by Nov. 4, including a prohibition on the purchase of Iranian oil.
The Iranian oil official said his views only concerned OPEC matters and not broader ties between Tehran and Russia. Kazempour said Russia's Oil Minister Alexander Novak had announced his country was about to boost production by 170,000 barrels a day, during a technical conference call to monitor production cuts in July.
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