Iran Press/ Iran news: Iranian Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji addressed the 20th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting on Wednesday, September 01, 2021, via videoconference.
Iranian Minister said: Despite all the pressures emanated from unilateral and illegal sanctions, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a founding member of OPEC and one of the world's major oil producers, has always supported the principle of cooperation and interaction within the framework of the organization under the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC).
Owji pointed that during the past two years, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the world, the world economy and, consequently, the oil market have suffered significant losses, some of which are still with us.
"Despite all the ups and downs and the hardships we faced during the past two years, OPEC and its non-OPEC allies, which have signed the DoC, have managed to adhere to their common principles and goals and continue their collective movement to cope with the challenges and instabilities in the global oil market," Iranian Oil Minister said.
He emphasized that Iran is looking for a balance between the producers' and consumers' interests so the objectives stipulated in the OPEC statute and the OPEC and non-OPEC DoC could be achieved.
"As soon as the US government's unilateral, illegal sanctions are lifted, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to increase its oil production level to the highest possible level to compensate for the great losses caused by the US unilateral sanctions", Iran's Owji reassured the participants.
According to Owji, The U.S. unilateral and illegal sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran from April 2018 to April 2021 caused Iran to be deprived of production of about 1.8 billion barrels of oil, which resulted in more than $ 100 billion loss of revenues in a time the country needed financial resources to meet its necessities including for overcoming COVID-19 outbreak.
"The imposition of unlawful and unilateral sanctions by the United States on the two founding members of OPEC contradicts international law and international humanitarian law principles and rule", Iran's Oil Minister noted.
Owji also said: "Under the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi, the Islamic Republic of Iran firmly keeps on cooperating and interacting with the OPEC and supporting the DoC to secure the collective interests of the member countries."
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