Posted on 03/30/2004 11:13:16 AM PST by StilettoRaksha
VIENNA : Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said OPEC should carry out the one million barrel per day (bpd) production cut it has planned for Thursday.
He told reporters upon arriving in Vienna Tuesday for a meeting Wednesday of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries: "This is our valid decision and we should implement it because we have discussed and we have decided this issue."
The 10 nations in OPEC's quota system decided on February 10 at a meeting in Algiers to reduce their official crude oil production from 24.5 million bpd to 23.5 million from April 1. Iraq does not participate in the quota system.
OPEC is worried about crude oil prices falling when world demand eases in the spring in the northern hemisphere.
But the cartel is under pressure from the United States to postpone its cut, with crude prices near 13-year highs.
US gasoline prices near their historic highs are already an issue in political bickering between US President George W. Bush and his Democratic rival John Kerry.
Zangeneh said that if OPEC wanted to back off from the production cut, then "we should have a new unanimous decision" to do this.
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