As waivers surrounding US sanctions against the import of Iranian oil expire today, Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Zangeneh, has hit out at the use of oil “as a weapon.”
“The market conditions remain fragile at any moment due to tensions that are likely to transpire other countries like Libya and everywhere else as well as unpredictable tumults,” Zangeneh said, according to SHANA, the news agency of the Iranian oil ministry.
“Using oil as a weapon against two founding member of OPEC (Iran and Venezuela) will transform the unity in this organization into division and spell the demise and collapse of OPEC,” he added. “They have to accept responsibility for such thing.”
He said that sanctions would not bring the nation’s oil exports down to zero.
With Iran oil output set for further decreases, the Trump administration has said that its oil exporting allies would fill any supply gap. Khalid Al-Falih echoed those sentiments in a statement put out by the Saudi Press Agency.
“Saudi Arabia will coordinate with fellow oil producers to ensure adequate supplies are available to consumers while ensuring the global oil market does not go out of balance,” the statement wrote. Zanganeh says these claims are overstated.
