Iran to veto OPEC decisions harming its interests: Oil min.

TEHRAN (defapress) – Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told Bloomberg on Thu. that Iran will veto any OPEC decision that harms the Islamic Republic, adding that he won’t be attending the Algerian JMMC meeting.

News ID: 72550

Date: 20 September 2018 - 15:46

Iraninan Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in an interview with Bloomberg that the agreement that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers reached in 2016 to cut output is in tatters, and an OPEC committee set to meet this weekend in Algiers has no authority to impose a new supply arrangement.

“I will block any OPEC decision that poses the slightest threat to Iran,” Zanganeh said. Any decision on a new production agreement by OPEC’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee that meets on Sunday would be “void” and “invalid,” he said. “Decisions can only be made at OPEC meetings in the presence of all OPEC members and by consensus of members.”

“I think Mr. Trump made this decision to bring Iran’s exports to zero without any consultation with any experts, not even in his own government,” he said. “He’s realized lately that this is not doable. So, they are looking for a symbolic export of zero, if they can, even for just one month.”

Zanganeh said he won’t be attending the Algerian JMMC meeting, which is to occur just days before the two-year anniversary of OPEC’s decision to pare production and curb a glut.

“The agreement doesn’t really exist anymore. It’s finished,” Zanganeh said. Russia initially cut 300,000 barrels a day of production but then added it all back, he said. “There’s no agreement left, really.”

Two OPEC members are seeking to damage the group and carry out “anti-Iranian policies” at the behest of the US, Zanganeh added, without identifying the two countries.

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