Azerbaijan, Baku, May 18 / Trend T.Konyayeva /
Senior fellow at the Singapore Energy Studies Institute Human Peymani believes Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency in OPEC as the Iranian Acting Oil Minister will not affect the activities of the organization.
"I don't think that Ahmadinejad's presidency will have any significant influence on the OPEC activities, because OPEC decision is not a decision made by one person," Peymani told Trend over telephone. "It usually reflects interests of all countries, and they all should reach a consensus during making a decision."
Ahmadinejad may either personally chair the OPEC meeting or he may introduce a representative to the event, Mehr news agency quoted the oil ministry officials as saying.
Vienna is to host the next session of OPEC on June 8. Iran has been leading the organization since January 2011 for this first time in three decades. According to reports, Ahmadinejad may either personally preside over the OPEC meeting or send his representative.
Iran was elected as the chairman country of the organization in September 2010 and from former Iranian Oil Minister Mir-Kazemi was the OPEC chair since January 1, 2011.
Ahmadinejad last week merged the oil ministry with the energy ministry, industries and mines ministry with the commerce ministry, and the welfare ministry with the labor ministry in a move to cut the number of government departments to 17 from 21 and boost the administration's efficiency.
Based on the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, eight ministerial structures were merged into four new ministries, including the Oil Ministry and Energy Ministry. Ahmadinejad announced his intention to temporarily head the newly oil ministry on May 16.
But, Peymani said, the presidency in OPEC and post of oil minister are significant in respect to a power struggle within the Iranian political system.
"Technically, there should be one ministry instead of ministry of oil and ministry of energy. It doesn't make sense to have two ministries dealing with different aspects of energy," he said. "However, the president's decision to take over the ministry which is quite significant because it generates the bulk of Iran's foreign currency gained through its export of oil and gas is important in terms of the power struggle in the political system inside Iran."
Iran occupies the third position among the OPEC countries on the largest proven oil reserves, exports of which is the main source of revenue for the country (80 percent of the Iranian budget). According to BP, Iran's proven oil reserves amounted to 137.6 billion barrels as of Jan.1, 2010. According to OPEC, the overall level of oil production in Iran hit 3.7 million barrels per day in February 2011.
Regarding the processes outside of Iran, he does not think that there will be any major impact.