Roundup: Iran calls for non-OPEC support to stabilize oil market, boost prices

Senior Iranian officials have urged oil producing countries outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to back the resolve of the oil cartel to stabilize oil market and boost the crude prices, local media reported on Sunday.

On the day, Iran's Minister of Petroleum, Bijan Zanganeh, said that he expects the non-OPEC producers to cooperate with OPEC to boost market stability, reported the semi-official Fars news agency.

Commenting on the meetings between Russian and Saudi energy officials, Zanganeh said that "we hope the two sides will reach agreements and the non-OPEC states and Russia will accompany members of the organization."

"We hope Russia and non-OPEC members will reach an agreement on the decision of the OPEC members to cut oil production," he said on the sidelines of an energy seminar in Tehran, referring to the Algeria accord framework.

Asked if Russia will attend a meeting of the OPEC member states on Nov. 30 in Vienna, Zanganeh said Sunday that "the regular session of OPEC in November will be attended by the oil and energy ministers of the organization in the permanent secretariat of the organization. Russia will not take part in the meeting."

On Saturday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said that the decrease in global oil prices is leverage to exert pressure on independent countries by the United States, Press TV reported.

Khamenei urged "resistance and steadfastness along with prudence" to foil U.S. plots.

Also, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that his country supports any measure to stabilize global oil markets.

"Iran supports any measure in line with the stabilization of the oil market, fair prices and equitable quota for the producers," Rouhani said in a meeting with visiting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Rouhani urged OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers to work together to this end.

Rouhani also hailed the relations between Iran and Venezuela, saying the development of cooperation with Latin American countries has always been of high significance to Iran.

In a telephone conversation with Maduro on Oct. 3, Rouhani had emphasized that OPEC must hold "serious negotiations" with non-OPEC producers to increase and stabilize oil prices in international markets.

"All must make efforts so that the committee of experts would take decisions to clear the way for increasing global oil price in the OPEC meeting in November," Rouhani said.

The Venezuelan president visited Tehran on Saturday to discuss issues of mutual interest, including energy cooperation, with senior Iranian officials.

On the day, Maduro said that "we are trying to reach an accord between OPEC and countries that are not members of this organization."

On Sept. 28, OPEC members agreed during an impromptu meeting in Algeria to cut crude oil production by 750,000 barrels a day to raise crude oil prices.

OPEC nations reached a preliminary agreement for the first time since the global financial crisis eight years ago, in an effort to reduce a global glut of crude that has depressed oil prices for more than two years and weakened the economies of oil-producing nations. The preliminary deal has limited output of OPEC to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels per day. Endit