VIENNA: Iran will try to persuade Saudi Arabia to cut oil production when the oil ministers from the two Opec members meet this week in Vienna, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported yesterday citing a television interview with the country’s oil minister.
Opec meets on November 27 to set its output policy and some of its members have called for output cuts to shore up oil prices. Brent crude oil has lost about 30 percent of its value since June to around $80 a barrel because of abundant supplies and weakening demand.
Iran’s oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said he would meet with his Saudi counterpart Ali bin Ibrahim Al Nuaimi in Vienna to persuade the oil giant for cuts in oil production and supply, Mehr reported. But an agreement on an Opec output cut at the meeting is uncertain. Opec delegates expect a difficult meeting, and analysts are split over the outcome.
Iran has said the steep fall in oil prices this year is the result of deliberate moves by some exporters which have kept production high to undermine Tehran’s sanctions-hit economy. Reuters
