Iran wants OPEC to cut 1.5 million barrels in Cairo meeting
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Iran, OPEC's number two oil producer, favors a cut in crude production of 1.0 to 1.5 million barrels per day when the oil cartel meets in Cairo later this month, state television reported on Saturday.
"It is best that at the urgent meeting in Cairo a decision be made for another decrease of one million to 1.5 million barrels per day," Iran's OPEC representative Mohammad Ali Khatibi was quoted as saying on the broadcasters website.
OPEC decided to cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day last month in response to a dramatic fall in oil prices from a record $147 in July to below $70 last month. The cartel produces about 40 percent of the world’s crude oil.
"Thus, a balance between supply and demand is reached," Khatibi said, adding that the extent of any potential cutbacks would depend on whether the global financial crisis deepened or not.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel is scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting on November 29 in Egypt amid speculation that member nations will agree to cut output in a bid to boost plunging oil prices.
Oil prices closed mixed on Friday amid growing signs of economic woes in the US and Europe, despite the possibility of a new output cut.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude for December delivery fell 1.20 dollars a barrel to close at 57.04 dollars.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for January rose 2.25 dollars a barrel to settle at 54.24 dollars on the InterContinental Exchange.