Iran says ready to help restore oil market balance

Iran is ready to support any decision to help restore balance to the oil market after it regains its pre-sanctions market share, the Iranian oil ministry’s SHANA news agency reported on Saturday, quoting a minister.

Algerian Energy Minister Nouredine Bouterfa said after talks in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart, Bijan Zanganeh, that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) wanted an oil price of between $50-60 a barrel, according to SHANA

“Deputy Petroleum Minister in International Affairs and Trading Amir Hossein Zamaninia voiced Iran’s support for any decision that would help restore balance in the oil market, saying the country can only be cooperative in this field once it regains its pre-sanctions oil market share,” SHANA said.

Global oversupply in oil had knocked crude prices down from mid-2014 highs above $100 a barrel to a 12-year lows earlier this year of around $27 a barrel. Brent has since rebounded and was trading at around $49 a barrel last week.

Iran, OPEC’s third largest producer, has been sending positive signals that it may support joint action to prop up the oil market, potentially aiding efforts to revive a global deal on freezing production levels.

Members of OPEC will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF), which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria on Sept. 26-28.

Zanganeh has confirmed that he will attend the Algeria meeting.

Zamaninia said OPEC countries need to find a way to revive the quota system.

“Naturally, if a country wants to produce at its full capacity, there will not be any balance in the market,” Zamaninia said, without naming any country, but in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia.

SHANA said that after the meeting with Zanganeh, Bouterfa told the agency that a crude oil price of $50 per barrel was “unacceptable”.

“OPEC members want a $50-$60 price per barrel,” SHANA quoted Bouterfa as saying.