TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that stable oil market and fair prices meet the interests of both oil producers and consumers.

Rouhani made the remarks in a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on Friday.

The Venezuelan president for his part said that Caracas is determined to develop cooperation with Tehran in all areas. 

“Iran and Venezuela have great potentials for cooperation, and we are interested in joint ventures in the fields of industry, infrastructure and energy,” he said.

Maduro also pointed to the declining oil prices and said, “oil-producing countries have suffered from the situation, hence they need to get united and strive to stabilize the oil market.”

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been raising exports despite the approaching September 26-28 meeting in Algeria, where the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major producers are to discuss an oil production freeze. Most market participants are skeptical a deal will be reached.

Iran, OPEC’s third largest oil producer, maintains that any discussion about it freezing production at the upcoming OPEC meeting would be premature, and that pre-sanction levels would first need to be reached.

OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report for September 2016 showed Iran’s crude oil production for August was at 3.653 million barrels per day—up from 3.631 million barrels per day in July, and between 147,000 and 347,000 barrels per day less than pre-sanction levels.

Venezuela and Iran continue to seek consensus on ways to stabilize oil markets and strengthen OPEC, Maduro said on August 27, following a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

“We continue to build common ground and a new consensus on stabilizing oil markets, strengthening industries, strengthening OPEC,” Maduro said, Reuters reported. 

EF/MG