Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 31 / Trend F.Milad/
No official body in Saudi Arabia has so far announced the country's readiness to supply international markets with oil in case of cutting Iranian oil exports under the pressure of international sanctions, the Iranian governor of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said.
Referring to some news in western media about preparedness of Saudi Arabia to supply sufficient crude to international markets to compensate for the loss of Iranian oil, Mohammad-Ali Khatibi told the ILNA news agency that the source of such news is known and to date no Saudi Arabian official has commented on this issue.
"The current situation serves all and it does not seem imposing sanctions on Iran's oil industry could be in favor of other countries," he stressed.
In a new effort to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program, the Obama administration and its European allies are asking Saudi Arabia to help them squeeze Iran's vital oil sector without driving up world energy prices and damaging the global economy.
Officials in the United States, France, Britain and other countries have been lobbying the Saudis in recent weeks to produce billions more barrels of oil to provide an alternative source for buyers of Iranian oil.
The Saudis have given some positive signals, but Western officials say it's unclear whether they will follow through. Nor is it clear that the complicated scheme could avoid producing a destabilizing price surge that would push the world's fragile economies into a deep downturn, according to the Los Angeles Times.