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Iran Urges OPEC to Cut Oil Output to Lift Prices to $70-$80

(Bloomberg) -- OPEC member states should cut crude output to boost prices to a range of $70 to $80 a barrel, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.

“No one is happy” with prices at current levels, Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran. “OPEC should decide to manage the market by reducing the level of production.” Even so, Zanganeh said he doesn’t expect the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to decide to reduce output when its ministers meet next in December.

OPEC has produced more than its official target of 30 million barrels a day for 16 consecutive months as the group seeks to defend sales amid a global supply glut. Brent crude, a global benchmark, has slumped 41 percent in the last 12 months and was at $50.20 a barrel in London at 8:31 a.m. local time. OPEC plans to assess output when oil ministers from its 12 members meet Dec. 4 in Vienna. 

Iran can boost oil exports by 500,000 barrels a day within a week after the removal of economic sanctions, Roknoddin Javadi, managing director of state-run National Iranian Oil Co., told reporters in Tehran. The nation can raise exports by 1 million barrels a day within six months once the curbs are lifted, in a push to regain the share of the world market it lost due to restrictions imposed over its nuclear program, he said. 

Iran targets crude production of 4.7 million barrels a day by March 2021 and plans to produce 1 million barrels a day of crude condensates by the same date, Javadi said. The Islamic Republic pumped 2.8 million barrels a day of oil in September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.