Iran's Oil Minister Withdraws from Doha Oil Stabilization Conference

One day before the start of the oil production stabilization conference in Doha, Qatar's capital, reports indicate that Iran's Oil Minister will not attend the meeting. Two informed sources told Reuters that Bijan Zangeneh, Iran's Oil Minister, will not participate in the Doha conference, which will include OPEC oil ministers along with several major oil-producing countries such as Russia. The participating countries in the Doha conference collectively hold 45% of the world's oil production, and the aim of this gathering is to reach an agreement to stabilize oil production. In other words, these countries will commit not to increase their oil production to reduce the surplus oil in global markets, hoping this approach will raise crude oil prices. In recent months, crude oil prices in global markets have faced a significant decline, with Brent crude oil prices falling from above $108 in the first half of 2014 to about $43 on Saturday. According to sources familiar with the Doha meeting, a representative from Iran will attend the conference instead of Zangeneh on Sunday, April 29. The Doha conference for stabilizing oil production is approaching as Ramin Ghodsian, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company, announced on Saturday, April 28, that Iran's crude oil production has now surpassed 3.5 million barrels per day. This is while Iran's average oil production last year was about 2.8 million barrels. According to Shana news agency, Mr. Ghodsian further stated that Iran's average crude oil exports alone in April will reach 2 million barrels per day. Recently, Bloomberg also reported that Iran has raised its oil exports to over 2 million barrels per day in the first half of this month, April. This figure is double Iran's oil exports during international sanctions. Before the sanctions, Iran produced 3.7 million barrels and exported 2.2 million barrels of crude oil. Iranian officials have stated that following the lifting of sanctions in January of this year, they are striving to bring oil production and exports back to pre-sanction levels. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC oil producer, reiterated on Saturday that it would agree to stabilize oil production only if Iran follows suit. Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister, Deputy Crown Prince, and son of the King, who is also the head of the Saudi Oil Company, told Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia could quickly add up to 1 million barrels to its oil production, raising it to 11.5 million barrels per day. He further stated that if desired, they could increase this figure to 12.5 million barrels per day within 6 to 9 months. He added that Saudi Arabia could raise oil production to 20 million barrels per day through investment in its projects, but does not pursue such a goal. Bloomberg reports that Saudi Arabia raised its production to 10.2 million barrels last month, but in the first half of last year, it was producing over 10.5 million barrels of oil. Currently, the presence of 18 oil ministers from oil-producing countries at the Doha conference is confirmed.