The Russian president, Vladimir Putin lent his support to a production freeze deal at this month’s informal meeting among OPEC members. However, he raised the prospects that Iran may not join such a deal, which again left the possibility that there would be no such deal. Speaking to Bloomberg today, Mr. Putin said that a production freeze deal among Russia and 14-member OPEC would be the right decision for the global energy. He said, ”From the viewpoint of economic sense and logic, then it would be correct to find some sort of compromise. I am confident that everyone understands that”.
OPEC members would be meeting later this month in Algeria, informally, on the sidelines of the biennial meeting of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Last time all the members were very close to a deal in April but that broke down as Saudi Arabia ruled out such a deal without Iran’s participation.
Iran has already reiterated its position that unless 4 million barrels per day (pre-sanction level) gets reached, there would be no participation from its side. Iran is currently producing around 3.55 million barrels of oil. Mr. Putin tried to make Iran’s case by saying that it would be unfair to Iran if the country is prevented from reaching its pre-sanction level.
