Iran news: Iran's Minister of Petroleum, Bijan Zangeneh sent a letter to OPEC Secretary General, Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo complaining about the Joint OPEC-non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee's (JMMC) performance and interpretation of its decisions by some OPEC members and called for stopping these works.
In the letter Zangeneh complained that the committee's performance had been driven by misinterpretation of the OPEC Conference decisions, as it was frequently referred to in previous correspondences of Mr. Zangeneh with OPEC, Shana news agency reported.
The Iranian official said: “Given the performance of the JMMC and the Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Technical Committee (JTC) over recent months, we have regrettably noticed that these two committees have deviated from their initial objectives for which they were established, and some OPEC members represented in these two committees have clearly taken side with the US in imposing its unilateral and unlawful sanctions against Islamic Republic of Iran, and are turning these two committees into political tools in support of the US policies against Iran.”
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He said: “In my view, continuation of the activity of these two committees does not secure the collective interests of OPEC, and as long as the mandate and missions of these two committees are not thoroughly defined and approved by the OPEC Conference, their activities are not justifiable, and therefore, they should immediately stop their work.
"Accordingly, the Secretariat is asked to refrain from providing any services or incurring expenditure toward the work of these two committees and Undoubtedly, any reports or recommendations provided by these two committees are not acceptable" the minister added.
The Iranian official further called on OPEC to include an item under the title of “Development of Terms of Reference of the JMMC and JTC including their mission, membership, chairmanship, responsibilities, and mandates” in the agenda of the 175th Meeting of the OPEC Conference due to be held on 6 December 2018.
He concluded that “It would be highly appreciated if Your Excellency could instruct the OPEC Secretariat to circulate the present letter to the Head of Delegations of OPEC and non-OPEC Countries participating in the Declaration of Cooperation. Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration and respect.”
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