Iran Supports OPEC Output Cut Conditionally

Iran said that it will conditionally support OPEC output cut.

Iran's representative to OPEC Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Khatibi voiced the conditional support to some reporters on the sidelines of an oil gas show in Tehran, MENA said.

"The OPEC decision to cut its output at a meeting in May in Vienna depends on the market condition," Khatibi was quoted as saying, adding "if there is an oversupply of oil (in the market), the output cut will be considered."

He said that "OPEC was already worried about the oversupply to the market, varying between 500,000 and one million barrels per day (bpd), by some non-OPEC producers of crude; however, the studies show that the oversupply will slow down to zero."

The Iranian OPEC representative noted that Iran thinks the current crude price of 50 U.S. dollars bpd is appropriate to the current global economic condition, but backs a steady rise of the prices to 75-80 dollars which is suitable for the developments of oil industry projects.

Earlier in April, Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told a press conference that the oil price between 75 and 80 dollars would be favorable for Iran, OPEC' s second largest oil producer.

The oil prices hit a peak of 147 dollars in July last year but have fluctuated this year between 40 and 50 dollars.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) conference in March emphasized its commitment to comply fully with its decision in December 2008 to cut production by a record 2.2 million bpd, taking total curbs since last September to 4.2 million bpd.

OPEC, the 12-member oil cartel which pumps nearly 40 percent of global supply, is due to hold another conference in Vienna on May 28, to consider any further actions deemed necessary to bolster sagging oil prices under the global economic slowdown.