Iran Thursday accused Saudi Arabia of breaching a collective OPEC agreement, reviving fears that the producer group's fractious meeting last year could be repeated.
Iran
Thursday accused
Saudi Arabia
of breaching
a collective OPEC agreement, reviving fears that the producer group's fractious
meeting last year could be repeated.
Iran's Oil Ministry website Shana quoted Rostam Ghasemi as saying the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries "should produce up to 30
million barrels per day [as a group], but some countries including Saudi Arabia
don't observe these regulations."
OPEC in December agreed to the collective ceiling of 30 million barrels a day
in December, but the group's daily production is now higher by over a million
barrels as Saudi Arabia replaces oil from sanctions-hit Iran.
"As an OPEC member, we enjoy the right to protest" against
overproduction by a member, Ghasemi said.
A Gulf OPEC official said the Saudis weren't aware of any complaint to OPEC and
are producing what their customers need.
The Islamic Republic has been escalating rhetoric against its Saudi arch-rival,
reviving fears of a new rift within OPEC. A meeting last June ended
acrimoniously after groups led by
Saudi
Arabia
and
Iran
failed to agree on output levels.
Any new fracture within the group--whose members produce over one in three
barrels consumed in the world each day--could impede its ability to coordinate
production and may trigger more oil-price volatility.
Ghasemi Monday accused
Saudi Arabia
of
trying to replace its oil, a policy he said will fail.
Iran
itself has faced uphill challenges to sell its oil as the West moves ahead with
sanctions over its controversial nuclear program. New international measures
against its banking sector have impeded its oil sales even before a planned
European ban on its oil starts this summer.
Ghasemi admitted that
Iran
has
already halted supplying oil to
U.K.
major
Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) because the Anglo-Dutch oil giant was unable to
settle its debts. A Shell spokesman declined to comment.
The minister also said "Greek authorities had problems with payment"
though he denied statements in Iranian media and by Greek refiners that sales
to European nation had stopped.
According to consultancy Petro-Logistics, sanctions imposed on
Iran
by
the West have already led to a drop in exports--
Tehran
denies this.
To fill in the gap,
Saudi Arabia
--the
world's largest oil exporter--has hiked production to 10 million barrels a day,
its highest level in three decades. This is set to continue after the
U.S.
and
the European Union have ruled out easing sanctions on
Iran
despite a thaw in relations.
Talks between
Iran
and
major powers over the weekend--the first in over a year--ended with a pledge to
pursue discussions next month, interrupting months of steadily escalating
tensions between both sides.
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