Adel al-Jubeir: Saudi Arabia Will Not Reduce Oil Production

Adel al-Jubeir, the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, stated on Thursday, February 17, that Saudi Arabia is not prepared to reduce its oil production. In an interview with the French news agency, he clarified: "If other producers want to limit their production or agree to keep production steady, this may impact the market, but Saudi Arabia is not ready to reduce its oil production." The Saudi Foreign Minister emphasized: "The issue of oil prices is determined by supply and demand as well as the market. Saudi Arabia will protect its market share; we have said this before." According to the French news agency, Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have so far opposed reducing oil production to eliminate weaker market competitors. However, after oil prices fell nearly 70% since mid-2014, efforts began among OPEC members and other producing countries to prevent further declines in oil prices. In this context, on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Qatar announced that if other oil producers keep their crude oil production steady, they will do the same. The day after that, the Qatari Minister of Industry and Energy, as the rotating president of OPEC, along with the oil ministers of Venezuela and Iraq, visited Tehran. Bijan Zangeneh, Iran's oil minister, described the joint meeting with his three counterparts as a "good meeting" and explained that in this meeting, it was decided that OPEC and non-OPEC members would maintain their production ceilings to stabilize the market and improve prices for the benefit of consumers and producers, and this was supported by the Islamic Republic. The Iranian oil minister described the Doha and Tehran meetings as a "first step" towards improving the market situation, stating: "Further steps must be taken; the beginning of cooperation among member and non-member countries to improve the market situation is a cause for happiness." According to the oil minister of the eleventh government, "Iran is determined to increase its production and will not give up its market share." According to OPEC's report, the price of the organization's oil basket fell slightly to $28.18 on Wednesday compared to the previous day. Before sanctions, Iran exported 2.2 million barrels of oil daily, but during the sanctions, this amount fell to about one million barrels, and reports indicate that after the implementation of the JCPOA, this amount has increased to between 1.3 to 1.4 million barrels. In this context, oil prices slightly increased after the Doha and Tehran meetings, affecting the agreement of the four major oil-exporting countries on oil prices, the Doha agreement, the future of the oil market, and Tehran's role in stabilizing oil production levels. Iran once again rejected the Doha agreement to keep oil production steady.