Roundup: Iran hails OPEC agreement on output cut

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called the recent agreement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut oil output "a success" for the Islamic republic, the oil cartel and the global market, semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

Rouhani said that the OPEC decision on Wednesday in reducing the production was a "positive interaction" among the member states over the oil prices.

The OPEC on Wednesday decided to cut its oil output by 1.2 million bpd, setting the ceiling of oil production at 32.5 million bpd.

The cut, effective from Jan. 1, 2017, is the oil cartel's first oil reduction since 2008.

In the meantime, Iran's Petroleum Minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, said Thursday that "the decision by OPEC members once again proved that despite the competitions and grave political differences among OPEC members, they still have cooperation and interactions," official IRNA news agency reported.

Besides, by the cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC states, it is expected that the prices of the crude oil will stay above 50 U.S. dollars bpd in near future, Zanganeh was quoted as saying.

The reduction is being coordinated with non-OPEC country Russia which has promised to cut its production by 300,000 barrels per day.

"Due to the passive role of OPEC in the past two years, some were thinking that OPEC is dead," Zanganeh said, adding that "however, the meeting in Algeria (on Sept. 28) proved that OPEC is still alive."

In September, OPEC members agreed during an impromptu meeting in Algeria to slash oil output by 750,000 barrels per day to raise crude prices.

The Iranian petroleum minister also praised what he called the "resistance" of the Iranian delegation in the OPEC meeting for the production quota of 3.8 million bpd for the Islamic republic.

"Although many criticized Iran saying that the persistence of Iran on the quota keeps the prices of the oil low, the resistance of the Iranians for their national interest finally bore fruit," he said.

According to the agreement by the OPEC member states, Iran will keep its production at 3.8 million bpd, about the same as the country's pre-sanction level in 2005.

Besides, the political deputy of the Iran's presidential bureau said Thursday that the interaction between Iran and Russia was a "major step" for the agreement in OPEC meeting, according to IRNA.

Hamid Abutalebi said that "the long telephone talk between Rouhani and (Russian President) Vladimir Putin on the eve of the OPEC meeting showed that if the major players agree (on some issues), we will witness important developments."

In a telephone conversation on Monday, Putin and his Iranian counterpart acknowledged the importance of finalizing an OPEC output cut deal in order to stabilize the global oil market.

Oil prices surged on Wednesday after the OPEC clinched a deal to cut production in an effort to stabilize market.

The West Texas Intermediate for January Delivery increased 4.21 U.S. dollars to 49.44 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The crude futures rose about ten percent in intraday trading, the largest one-day move since February.

The Brent crude for January delivery added 4.09 dollars to close at 50.47 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

OPEC will establish a ministerial committee to monitor the implementation of output cut agreement. Endit