Iran to attend upcoming OPEC meeting

Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh told media on Thursday that he will travel to Algeria in later September to attend an OPEC meeting that will be held on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF) on September 26-28. 

A key topic on the agenda of the talks – in which the non-OPEC members will also participate - will be ways to promote stability in the market – what producers hope would help push up the prices.

Other reports earlier said the meeting may discuss a proposal put forward by Saudi Arabia before to freeze oil production levels.

Iran - OPEC's third largest producer - has been ramping up output since the lifting of sanctions in January to reclaim its lost market share, dismissing demands to join the freeze initiative.

The country exported up to 2.3 million barrels per day of crude before sanctions – that restricted Iran’s exports of oil to around 1 million barrels per day (mb/d) - cut it by half in 2012.

On Friday, Reuters said its latest figures confirmed that Iran’s exports had surpassed 2 mb/d.
Director for international affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohsen Qamsari said Iran’s total exports hit 2.74 mb/d in June. The figure included 0.6 mb/d of condensate.

Qamsari said Iran was still exporting around 0.4 mb/d less than the average it released on the market before sanctions were imposed against the country.

/SR