Zanganeh Satisfied With OPEC Session Outcome

April 3, 1999 - 0:0
VIENNA The Iranian Oil Minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, who was here on Tuesday expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the 107th Ministerial Meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In an exclusive interview with IRNA, Zanganeh said that the agreement reached between OPEC and non-OPEC members to cut oil output by 2,100,000 barrels per day (bpd) would stabilize the oil market.

He said that OPEC showed once again that it is powerful enough to overcome market crisis, further expressing hope that all the members would fully honor their commitments. Another point worth noting is the cooperation between four non-OPEC oil producers and OPEC. Mexico, Oman, Norway and Russia have agreed to reduce their daily oil production by 400,000 barrels which constitutes 20 percent of the total cut in oil production.

This marks the first time that non-OPEC oil producers cooperate with OPEC at such level, said the Iranian Oil Minister. The Islamic Republic of Iran, said Zanganeh, played a major role in the agreement to cut oil output. Organization of expert meetings by Iranian Oil Ministry in cooperation with other OPEC members, exchange of visits by the oil and foreign ministers of the OPEC members, and Iran's contacts with senior officials of OPEC member states over the past year were instrumental in conclusion of the recent agreement.

The OPEC in its 107th ministerial meeting in Vienna on Tuesday agreed to 1.72 million bpd cut in production. The OPEC oil output would thus be lowered to 22.976 million bpd effective in April. Under an agreement reached at the OPEC session on Tuesday, Mexico would cut its oil output by 125,000, Russia by 100,000, Norway by 100,000 and Oman by 63,000 bpd.

(IRNA)