St. Petersburg, June 24: Kazakhstan energy minister Kanat Bozumbayev has on Monday said the talks slated to be held next month between Venezuela and Iran “won’t be easy” over whether to extend their agreement on reducing oil supplies.
The organization of the petroleum exporting countries with other large oil producers – including Kazakhstan and Russia – are slated to hold a conference in Vienna scheduled on July1-2 in order to hold discussions whether the crude oil output pact, originally scheduled to expire on June 30, should be extended or not.
According to Reuters news reports, citing “different position” of parties to the pact, Bozumbayev told reporters, “I think it won’t be easy.” He added both Venezuela and Iran faced US sanctions, adding, “Will they want to (extend) or not? It’s hard (to say).”
He said Kazakhstan wanted the agreement to be extended to the second half of the year, describing “suitable” to oil price range between $60-$70.
He added no need to hike oil prices, saying, “No one needs it as production in one big country will increase. (A country) which does not enter any agreements,” referring to the United States – not part of the deal.
He said, Central Asian largest oil exporters had this month cut more oil production than needed by the agreement this year, decreasing output to 1.76 million barrels per day.