Iran: Don't Blame Us for Market Destabilization

The Islamic Republic's oil minister says his country will "make efforts" to bring back normality.

While noting that the global oil market is oversupplied by over 2 million barrels per day (bpd) but his nation will maintain course to increase production anyway, Bijan Zanganeh, oil minister for Iran, blamed other crude producers for the market destabilization and also for failing to agree to freeze output at Doha.

Zanganeh, whose country has boosted exports to over 2 million bpd, declared that "Iran hasn't played any role in destabilization of the oil market, and those who have been responsible for this instability and saturated the market shirk it now," Platts reported.

He also reiterated Iran's long-stated position to increase its crude oil output and exports, which were slashed under international sanctions that were lifted in mid-January; according to Hassan Rouhani, president for Iran, the nation's exports have already more than doubled since the sanctions were lifted.

In discussing who was to blame for the global glut and price destabilization with the oil ministry news service Shana, Zanganeh also pointed a finger at "some oil producing countries" that supposedly opposed lifting the sanctions.

However, he added that Doha may have been the start of better cooperation between Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries members and non-members, and that "Iran, like in the past, will make efforts to bring back stability to the oil market" – but he didn't disclose how this would be achieved.

If one thing Iran has demonstrated consistency in, it's inflexibility: it has steadfastly refused to slash production, and in March Ship & Bunker reported that some former oil buyers were staying away from the Islamic Republic due to Tehran's refusal to relinquish destination clauses in its transactions.