DUBAI (Reuters) – The OPEC+ production cuts raised by Saudi Arabia do not seem imminent and should coincide with a return of Iran to oil markets in the event of a revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement. Iran, nine sources from the organization told Reuters on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia said on Monday that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may cut output to balance a market it called “schizophrenic”.
The sources told Reuters that a production cut is unlikely to be decided at the next OPEC+ meeting on September 5, but may be needed if the 2015 nuclear program deal Iran was revived, with the key to a possible lifting of American sanctions against Tehran.
“OPEC+ must be prepared for Iranian oil shipments to resume after sanctions are lifted,” one of the sources explained.
A senior US official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran had backed away from some of its key demands for reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed in Vienna in 2015, suggesting a deal could be reached soon.
Iran is not constrained by the existing agreement between OPEC+ members to limit oil supplies.
Tehran could start selling off some of its oil stocks as soon as sanctions are lifted, the sources said.
OPEC+ decided in June to increase monthly production by 648,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July and August and announced that it would raise its September production targets by 100,000 bpd.
(Report Alex Lawler, Olesya Astakhova, Maha El Dahan, Rowena Edwards, Ahmad Ghaddar and Dmitry Zhdannikov; French version Camille Raynaud)
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