TEHRAN- The secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said that the OPEC family welcomes back the full return of Iran’s oil production to the market, once the sanctions against its oil sector are lifted.

Haitham Al Ghais made the remarks in an interview conducted by Iranian Oil Ministry’s news agency, Shana.

Answering to a question that how he assesses Iran’s role and more generally OPEC’s role in the market situation, and how Iran’s full return to the market affect the situation, Al Ghais said:

“Iran is a founding member of OPEC and a key player in the global oil market. Iran is currently under sanctions and this is limiting its production. We know that Iran has the capacity to bring significant production volumes within a short period of time. This has been demonstrated in 2015-2016 when the sanctions were removed. I believe Iran has managed to increase its production by almost 1 mb/d of crude oil and condensate.

Indeed, we welcome the return of Iran’s oil production in the future, when sanctions are lifted. We look forward to that day. The market is growing. There is increasing demand and we believe that Iran is a responsible player amongst its family members, the countries in the OPEC group. I’m sure there will be good work together, in synchronization, to ensure that the market will remain balanced as OPEC has continued to do over the past many years.”

The OPEC secretary general met Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Oil Minister Javad Oji in Tehran on Saturday (May 27).

During the meeting, President Raisi stressed the necessity of strengthening unity among the OPEC members in a bid to nullify the division created by the West.

The president said: “Some Western countries seek to create division and disagreements among OPEC member countries to secure their interests, and the OPEC members should prevent the realization of these goals by strengthening their cohesion.”

He considered the constructive cooperation of the OPEC members with each other as an important factor in the success of this international organization and added: “The Islamic Republic of Iran has always had a constructive cooperation with this organization and we are determined to continue and improve the level of cooperation.”

The president further mentioned supporting the rights of oil producers and preventing discrimination against them as the philosophy of forming OPEC, and expressed hope that OPEC can bring peace to the oil market in the new period of activity.

During the meeting with the Iranian president and oil minister, Al Ghais stated that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as one of the founding members of OPEC, has always had useful, effective, and constructive cooperation with this organization and its members, and reminded: “Iran, both at the ministerial level and at the technical level has always acted in the direction of strengthening the cohesion and unity of OPEC members.”

He also described the situation of the oil market and said: “I hope that with the unity of OPEC members and benefiting from the constructive support and cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will be able to bring peace to the market.”

MA