Iraq urges OPEC to cut output by up to 2m bpd

Iraq urges OPEC to cut output by up to 2m bpd

BAGHDAD (AFP): Iraq's Oil Minister Amer Rashid on Saturday urged OPEC to cut production at its upcoming meeting by up to two million barrels per day (bpd) to stabilize oil prices on the world markets.

"We hope that OPEC will cut production at its upcoming meeting by at least between 1.5 and two million bpd to ensure a calm market," Rashid told reporters.

"We urge OPEC countries to maintain unity and rebuff any foreign interference that could affect prices and harm the economies of oil-producing countries, especially those in OPEC," he added.

Rashid said Baghdad was currently producing around three million bpd, adding that output "will increase if the UN sanctions committee changes its position."

The committee in December rejected a new formula proposed by Iraq for the pricing of its crude amid controversy over Baghdad's efforts to impose a surcharge to be paid outside UN control.

The 11-member oil cartel is expected to announce an output cut when it meets on January 17 in Vienna, or possibly before under its informal price stabilization mechanism.

An Iranian official also called Saturday for OPEC member countries to lower oil production by up to two million barrels per day (bpd).

"OPEC's decision to reduce production is firm, and it will not come from the adjustment mechanism. On the contrary, this decision at the upcoming meeting should involve a cut of at least 1.5 million barrels per day," said Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, the top adviser at Iran's oil ministry, cited by the daily Aftab- e-Yazd.

He said that at the oil cartel's January 17 meeting in Vienna, "there is also the possibility of decreasing production by up to two million barrels per day."

Kazempour Ardebili said Iran's official position on oil production would be announced in the coming days by Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zangeneh.

OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez said Thursday that members of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries were in agreement to cut back oil output by 500,000 bpd if prices remained below US$22 a barrel over the following 10 working days.

But there had been uncertainty over whether the group would cut production under its stabilization mechanism agreed to in March.

Under the informal agreement, the organization agreed to increase production by 500,000 barrels a day if its benchmark price stayed above $28 for 20 working days, or cut output by the same amount if the price stayed below $22 for more than 10 working days.

OPEC said on Friday that its benchmark price had risen to $23.15, remaining within the $22-$28 target band for the third day in a row.