Tehran, Iran, Dec. 7
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran's former representative at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Mohammad Ali Khatibi has told Trend that the members of the organization need to make room for further Iranian oil export in the markets in order to prevent damage to all the parties.
Earlier, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said his country is going to boost production by one million barrels a day after sanctions are removed.
Zanganeh's statement came as OPEC's crude output reached about 31.5 million barrels per day (mb/d), about 1.5 mb/d more than official production ceiling.
"Iran's crude export will surely resume and will push global oil prices down," Khatibi told Trend Dec. 7.
Saudi Arabia is one of the OPEC members that have seized the moment to produce more than their quota as Iran's production has shrunken under sanctions.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi rejected Iran's demand for cooperation by saying Dec. 4 that the market can absorb Iran's surplus production and OPEC members do not need to reduce their output.
OPEC members failed to reach an agreement on production ceiling on Dec. 4.
"During OPEC's conference, while some demanded to announce the current 31.5 bbl/d production level as the official ceiling for OPEC, others said production should be reduced to 30 bbl/d," Khatibi said.
Global oil prices plunged from about $108 in the first half of 2014 to below $40 currently due to glut in markets.