Baku, Azerbaijan, March 28
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran realizes that the oil freeze plan is basically meaningless and falls short of what it desires, says Anne Korin, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a think tank focused on energy and security.
"As far as Iran is concerned, despite the hand-waving from the Saudis about a freeze, this is a continuation of proxy war in the economic arena," Korin told Trend March 28.
While 11 of OPEC's 13 members, which produce a half of the global oil, say they will attend oil production freeze talks next month in Doha, Iran and Libya have rejected to participate in this issue.
In February, Russia and OPEC's major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, agreed to freeze oil production at the January levels.
Iran aims to produce four million barrels of oil per day. It suffered a severe decline in oil exports due to sanctions. Before the sanctions, the country used to export 2.3 million barrels of oil per day, but it could export only one million barrels per day up to January when the sanctions were lifted.
Korin says if the Saudis really wanted to drive prices up, they would have pushed through a significant production cut.
"They very well know a freeze won't have impact until growing demand soaks up excess supply, which will take quite a while," she added.
As for Libya, which also rejected to take part in the oil freeze plan, Korin said as the IS terrorist group (ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) grows in strength there, the energy infrastructure is both a big target and a coveted prize.