Iran Says Three OPEC Members to Veto Saudi-Proposed Supply Boost
‘We do not need to appease Trump,’ Iran’s Kazempour says
‘Market well-supplied, and OPEC should abide by its decision’
Iran says Venezuela and Iraq will join it in blocking a proposal to increase oil production that’s backed by Saudi Arabia and Russia when OPEC and its allies meet in Vienna this week.
“Three OPEC founders are going to stop it,” Iran’s representative to the bloc Hossein Kazempour Ardebili said in comments to Bloomberg Sunday. “If the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Russia want to increase production, this requires unanimity.”
“We call upon our brothers in OPEC and Russia that we do not need to appease Trump, who sanctions two OPEC founders and also Russia,” Kazempour Ardebili said. “We are sovereign nations driven by our own responsibilities and values. The whole world has to stand against these arrogant attitudes -- and will.”
U.S. sanctions will contribute to Iran and Venezuela potentially losing almost 30 percent of their oil output next year, requiring extra supplies from the group’s Gulf members, the International Energy Agency said last week.
“No changes took place in market fundamentals, although” the U.S. Energy Information Administration and IEA “rushed to say differently,” Kazempour Ardebili said.
“The market is well-supplied, and OPEC should abide by its decision up to the end of the year,” he said. “I am confident many other OPEC members feel and act the same.”
