Tehran, Iran, June 20
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh, who has traveled to Vienna to attend the OPEC summit this week, will return to Tehran on June 22, one day before the meeting is scheduled to conclude.
According to a statement by Shana news agency, the Iranian oil minister will travel back to Iran from the Austrian city on Friday.
The report said the minister's return to Iran one day before the OPEC summit comes to an end has nothing to do with the outcome of the meeting or a proposal to increase oil production that’s backed by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
The summit will be held in Vienna on June 22-23.
The statement came after media reports said that the Iranian minister will leave Vienna earlier than the scheduled time as a sign of protest to Russia.
OPEC and its allies could consider a production increase of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.
That would be enough to offset the supply losses from Venezuela and Iran foreseen by the International Energy Agency. Saudi Arabia has been discussing different scenarios that would raise production by between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day, according to people familiar with the matter.
The alliance is also facing pressure from outside. US President Donald Trump has continued to criticize the OPEC on his Twitter account. Worried about the impact of gasoline prices on mid-term elections, the Trump administration is lobbying hard for a surge in production.
Before his departure to Vienna on Wednesday, Zangeneh said that current problem in the oil market is the result of "political tension caused by the American president, not supply and demand imbalance".
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