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Iranian official on OPEC oil output cut: If they can't agree, oil market to get worse

Commentary Materials 7 December 2018 09:50 (UTC +04:00)
The OPEC's decision has not been officially announced yet, but, there are some news reports that claim OPEC members have not agreed upon a mutual agreement, the secretary general of the Iranian Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Association (OPEX) Hamid Hosseini told Trend.
Iranian official on OPEC oil output cut: If they can't agree, oil market to get worse

Tehran, Iran, Dec.7

Trend:

The OPEC's decision has not been officially announced yet, but, there are some news reports that claim OPEC members have not agreed upon a mutual agreement, the secretary general of the Iranian Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Association (OPEX) Hamid Hosseini told Trend.

An OPEC delegate recently crossed the wires announcing that the meeting has concluded and they haven't decided on the figure of the output cut. The delegate further added that the debate would continue with non-OPEC members on Friday.

Hosseini added that the preliminary news was an agreement on the reduction of production, the announcement was made and the final position for cut in production was postponed until the meeting with the Russian oil minister on Friday.

“Indeed OPEC countries own 65 percent of the world's oil reserves, and 35 percent of the world's oil production, and it has managed the global oil market till now. If they cannot agree, the oil market will get worse,” he said.

“We have seen a sharp decline in oil price over the past two months from $89 to $59 per barrel, and if OPEC countries will not agree on a cut in production or insist on reducing Iran's oil production, which is likely to be agreed upon, due to US sanctions, there will be problems that all oil countries will suffer from,” said Hosseini.

Hosseini further spoke about the impact of the US waivers to 8 major oil importers from Iran.

“Saudi Arabia had an average export of 7.700 million barrels per day, but it increased its production to 8.200 million to compensate for Iran's heavy losses. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq have increased their production, but the global market showed that it could not compensate for Iranian oil,” he said.

He went on to say that the US Congressional election and rising oil prices, forced US to issue licenses to Iranian major importers, so this exemption broke the world oil market.

"I think Saudi Arabia uses its cards. At present, under the pressure of some movements inside the United States, it is trying to bring itself closer to Russia and the countries of the region,” the Iranian official said.

“Of course, Saudi Arabia will definitely consider Trump's order, but would at the same time play its own game, and it is not about to halt its own interests,” Hosseini said.

He added that Saudi Arabia would have problems with falling oil prices.

"Saudi Arabia's budget will be in trouble, and because of this, I think it will be in the midst of a decline in production, but not as much as to cause a sharp increase in oil prices," said Hosseini.

OPEC countries gathered to set production targets for its members in an effort to control the price of oil available on the global market.

Donald Trump repeatedly has criticized both OPEC and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia over rising oil prices in recent weeks, demanding a production increase to drive down U.S. gasoline prices.

That rising supply, coupled with the Trump administration allowing many countries to continue to import Iranian oil despite his targeting of Tehran with sanctions, has seen global prices drop.

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