OPEC envoy says Iran won’t freeze oil production

But he did not give any explicit promises that Iran would keep its own output at January’s levels. “We want to meet demand and we want a stable oil price”.

Iran has only just had its sanctions lifted and it is not looking at reducing the amount it can produce while it is trying to rebuild its battered economy with lucrative oil reserves.

As a result, prices fell below $30 per barrel in January from as high as $115 in mid-2014, hammering the finances of Russia, Saudi Arabia and other producers.

Brent futures LCOc1 rose 42 cents to $34.92 a barrel by 0555 GMT, having closed 7.2 percent higher in the previous session after hitting an intraday high of $34.99.

U.S. crude rose 16 cents to stand at $29.20 a barrel.

Iran’s crude output is now in the region of 3 million barrels per day.

An Iranian official, speaking before the four-nation meeting, said Iran would continue increasing its oil output to levels held before the 2012 trade sanctions imposed on the fourth largest OPEC producer.

However before Wednesday’s talks Mehdi Asali, Iran’s director general of OPEC Affairs at the oil ministry, blamed other producers for creating a glut and signalled Tehran would not change course.

“This decision of [top oil producers] to freeze production is a publicity stunt more than anything”, said Josh Mahony, a market analyst with IG, based in London.

Iran, whose production presently stands at 3.1 million barrels per day (bpd), disclosed that it had reached an agreement to export oil to France, Russia and Spain. “They can’t do that now”, he said. If such an agreement actually happened, it would mark the first deal on production between OPEC and non-OPEC members in 15 years, according to Goldman Sachs. “Buy I think everybody agrees that we have to monitor the market situation and reaction and to consult on the next steps if necessary”, he said. “They are not going to be willing to leave the game before they start it”. “It shifts the burden of responsibility for refusing to cut production to arch-rival Iran”.

“The reason we agreed to a potential freeze of production is simple: it is the beginning of a process which we will assess in the next few months and decide if we need other steps to stabilize and improve the market”, Naimi told reporters. Russian Federation is supporting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with help from Iran, while Saudi Arabia is backing opposition forces.