Iran is ready to freeze oil production regime

FILE- June 8, 2011 file photo, sun sets behind an oil pump in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain. Oil-producing countries are to meet in Qatar on Sunday, April 17, 2016, to discuss a plan to freeze output but their gathering comes as nations like Iran rapidly ramp up their pumping. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File)

Iran has declared its readiness to freeze the oil production.

Mohsen Qamsari, the director for international affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said that Iran reached the desirable oil output to proceed with freezing its production, Press TV reports.

He told that Iran’s current production of oil stands at around 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by considering the daily production of 500,000 bpd of condensate: “Accordingly, the desirable figure for Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh has been reached and we can join the oil freeze plan.”

EurRus.ru agency evaluates the recent developments: “Earlier, Tehran has declared its desire to regain its market share and the level of oil production to the level prior to the imposition of sanctions – about 4 million barrels per day. This position was one of the reasons for the differences in [Saudi Arabia and other] oil-producing countries at a meeting in Doha on 17 April, where they discussed the possibility of freezing of oil production at the January level. Iran and the six international negotiators had previously reached a historic agreement on the settlement of the longstanding problem of the Iranian atom. Months of negotiations concluded with the adoption of a joint comprehensive plan of action, which is completely removed from Iran’s previously imposed economic and financial sanctions.”

Bloomberg has published the announcement of Saudi Arabia in early April: “Saudi Arabia will only freeze its oil output if Iran and other major producers do so, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince said, challenging the country’s main regional rival to take an active role in stabilizing the over-supplied global crude market.”

An important speech appeared on the website of Vestnik Kavkaza on this issue. Igor Yushkov, a professor of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, said: “A return to the negotiations on freezing of production is unlikely at the moment, because the negotiations themselves were carried out in hope that we will reach a compromise – but when the compromise with the major producers was reached, and when they were ready to negotiate without Iran, the Saudi Oil Minister informed our Minister Alexander Novak that the Crown Prince prohibited to sign the documents. Right now no one is immune to such stunts by Riyadh.”