AFP: Iran on Saturday predicted OPEC would not change its output quota at its next meeting in September, saying the cartel would keep the market well supplied in order to quash criticism it wanted to keep prices high. TEHRAN, Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – Iran on Saturday predicted OPEC would not change its output quota at its next meeting in September, saying the cartel would keep the market well supplied in order to quash criticism it wanted to keep prices high.
“I do not think that the production ceiling of OPEC will change because of the slowdown in the world economy and a production increase of the non-OPEC countries,” said Iran’s representative to OPEC, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili.
“The demand for OPEC oil is bit less than before.
“But considering the circumstances and the prices it appears that OPEC will continue its policy of supplying more than the market demands in order not to be accused of trying to increase prices,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided at its last meeting in June in Caracas to maintain the group’s official production quota at 28 million barrels a day, a 25-year high.
The next meeting is on September 11 in Vienna.
