Iran Tones Down Calls for Cut in OPEC Output

<a href=www.riyadhdaily.com.sa>RiyadhDaily.com Economy   Sunday - 20 April 2003 Tehran [Agencies].............................. Iran wants a reduction in OPEC oil output from May 1 only if there is an urgent market need for one, Oil Minister Bijan Namadar Zanghaneh said Saturday in an apparent toning down of earlier calls for a second quarter cut. "A May 1 date for a cut in OPEC production would be too soon unless there is an emergency situation," Zanghaneh told reporters on the sidelines of a Tehran oil and gas conference. On Thursday the minister had caused jitters on world oil markets by suggesting that Iran would push for an immediate cut at the OPEC cartel’s next meeting in Vienna on Thursday. "We need a decrease in production... starting the second quarter of 2003," Zanghaneh said then. "Currently there is a surplus in the oil market, and if it is not controlled in the long term, oil prices will slide." Iran Nominates Aide to Head OPEC Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh confirmed on Saturday he had proposed his deputy for OPEC’s top job. Asked by reporters in Tehran whether he had nominated Deputy Oil Minister Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, Iran’s former ambassador to the United Nations, for the post of secretary-general, Zanganeh said, "Yes." Venezuela’s Alvaro Silva is currently serving as OPEC Secretary-General, having replaced fellow Venezuelan Ali Rodriguez in June 2002. Rodriguez had served just 18 months of a three-year term at the helm of the 11-member producer group before being chosen to run state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The former Venezuelan oil minister shifted into the secretary-general position in January 2001 to settle an 18-month deadlock in a battle between Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. OPEC rules dictate that the appointment must be unanimous. Meanwhile, Iranian oil minister stated that the possibility of Iraq leaving the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC) would not be in the in the long-term interests of the cartel members, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namadar Zanghaneh said on Saturday. "It is in Iraq’s interests to stay within OPEC", said Zanghaneh at the closure of an oil and gas conference in Tehran, but he conceded that if it were to leave, "it would not have any influence on the market." However, if Iraq were to quit OPEC it would hurt both the country and the group as a whole, he said. Iraq would have less influence on the world market and the long-term interests of other OPEC members would be harmed, according to the minister. Some analysts are predicting that Iraq, now under the control of US forces, would leave OPEC to rid itself of the system of export quotas assigned by the cartel to its members, thus flooding the market with more oil and bringing down prices. Zanghaneh said he would urge a cut in oil output at OPEC’s next meeting in Vienna on Thursday only if such a cut was needed, in an apparent toning down of a stronger statement favoring a cut two days ago that pushed oil prices higher. The June Brent crude-oil futures contract rose 86 cents, or 3.4 percent, to 25.88 dollars a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange in London on Thursday. The market is closed until Tuesday for the Easter holidays.