Russia pro-cap, calls for compromise on Iran

VLADIVOSTOK , September 2, 2016 – Russia has thrown its weight behind a production cap as a means to stabilise the global oil markets, calling on OPEC to reach a compromise on the topic of Iranian output.

Speaking in at a conference in Vladivostok on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that logic would dictate that the parties “find some sort of compromise” on Iran, adding that to expect the country to freeze its production below pre-sanction levels was “unfair.”

Putin also reiterated that the Russian position on capping production has not changed. It was in favour of a freeze around the time of the April 2016 Doha talks, and continues to be so. “Our Saudi partners at the last moment changed their view,” the president said. “We didn’t reject the idea of freezing output.”

Russia is the second country to publicly announce its support for a cap on oil output. Earlier this week, Iraq’s prime minister Haider Al Abadi said his country – OPEC’s second-largest producer – would lend support to a proposal to freeze oil production at the September gathering in Algeria.

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