Oil minister: Iran not planning to quit OPEC

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh blasted certain countries for trying to politicize the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and said that Tehran has no plan to leave the oil cartel.

"Iran has no plans to leave OPEC and regrets that some OPEC members have turned this organization into a political forum to confront two founding members of OPEC, namely Iran and Venezuela,” the Iranian oil minister said.

He pointed to the stances taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE against Iran and Venezuela, and said, "Two regional countries are showing animosity towards us in this organization. We are not their enemy, but they are hostile to us... and (they) are using oil as a weapon against us in the global market and the world."

“I believe that these countries are driving the OPEC toward collapse, but we want the OPEC to be preserved. The two countries have undermined the organization by instigating infighting in the bloc,” the Iranian oil minister added.

Zanganeh, meantime, pointed to the US' sanctions imposed against Iran, and said "No one can compensate for this vacuum. They can do nothing. The market is unstable and fragile and these countries (the US and its Arab allies) will make their utmost efforts to impede an oil price surge by means of propaganda and downplaying the events," the Iranian oil minister added.

The Iranian oil minister also blamed the US and the usurper regime of Israel for propaganda war against Iran to keep the oil prices low, and said what they are doing will harm the OPEC members, oil producers and even consumers because of sparking instability in the market.

Zanganeh said that the media outlets obedient to the US policies also try to play down the events and exaggerate the Saudi crude reserves to keep the market calm.

In a relevant development, the OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo recently said that it is impossible to remove Iran's oil from the international market, asserting that the organization would keep supporting Tehran against the US unilateral sanctions.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 24th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition in the Iranian capital city of Tehran early last month, Barkindo said that it was "impossible" to eliminate Iranian crude from the global market.

EA