OPEC to discuss production quotas in 161st summit: Iran official
The Iranian representative at the OPEC’s executive council says the organization’s member states will discuss production quotas as well as the election of a new secretary general for the energy organization in their upcoming summit.
Mohammad Ali Khatibi said members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plan to tackle ways to enforce abidance to the daily production quota of 30 million barrels-per-day in their June 13 meeting in Vienna, SHANA reported Monday.
Khatibi predicted that some OPEC members will insist on maintaining the current daily production quotas, while others would vie for raising the production level based on market demands.
He added that in the organization’s 161st summit, member countries will also hold debates on the election of the OPEC’s next secretary general as well as the current status of global oil markets.
Khatibi had earlier raised concerns that some OPEC members, particularly Saudi Arabia, continue to violate their production quotas.
“Saudi Arabia and its two allies (Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates) are the biggest violators of the OPEC (quota),” Khatibi said Saturday.
The Iranian official blamed the countries for the drop in oil prices by over-pumping.
Khatibi noted that Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi had forwarded a letter of complaint to the OPEC Secretariat to protest the move by the three Arab countries.
According to the Iranian envoy, the Saudi Kingdom is under pressure from the EU and US to increase its production in order to allow for the implementation of oil sanctions against Iran.
Source: presstv.com
