Iran warns OPEC against raising oil output

Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Monday that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would suffer if its members do not adhere to their commitment regarding the oil output.

The decision made at the 174th OPEC Conference did not grant the member states the right to exceed their production level above the allocated quota, or the right to redistribute the production cut quota among the members, said Zanganeh in a letter to OPEC President Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Xinhua reported.

However, according to the OPEC's latest monthly report, some member countries' production level in June 2018 was far above the agreed production level allocated to them, Zanganeh said.

This is a violation of their commitment, he said, adding that "we are concerned that this violation may continue in the remaining months and in contradiction with the agreement adopted at the OPEC conference."

The US State Department announced in June that the United States had been pushing its allies to stop oil imports from Iran by November 4.

US President Donald Trump asked Saudi Arabia to increase its oil exports to compensate for the shortage in the market demand in case Iran's crude exports drop.

--IANS

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