Tehran supports the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as long as it protects Iranian interests alongside other members, Iran’s OPEC governor Amir Hossein Zamaninia said on Monday.
“We support OPEC as far as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s interests are safeguarded in a balanced form with fellow member states,” he said, as cited by the oil ministry’s news agency SHANA. “Otherwise, membership in no international organization is mandatory,” the official added.
Commenting on the 60th anniversary of OPEC’s founding, Zamaninia said that Iran “has done a lot for protecting and upgrading this organization.”
Iran and OPEC “are inseparable,” he said, adding that any statements about his country’s possible exit from the organization “would favor our enemies and are in conflict with our national interests.”
The Covid-19 outbreak and its consequences for the global economy could cause some important changes in the global demand for oil, Zamaninia said. Moving in the direction of using clean energy instead of fossil fuel is a major cause of concern for OPEC in the long term, he said, and would have a serious impact on the oil market.
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in August that the oil market had not yet stabilized for several reasons, including the coronavirus outbreak. However, OPEC has taken “good measures,” he noted, after the group and allies, including Russia, agreed to record output cuts to tackle the fallout from the pandemic.
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