OPEC is moving closer toward finalizing this month its first deal since 2008 to limit oil output, with most members prepared to offer Iran significant flexibility on production volumes, ministers and sources said on Friday.
Iran has been the main stumbling block for such a deal because Tehran wants exemptions as it tries to regain oil market share after the easing of Western sanctions in January, Reuters reported.
Iran's rival Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has argued Iran's output has peaked and it should not be granted major concessions.
On Friday, several OPEC oil ministers including Saudi Arabia's Khalid al-Falih met in Doha on the sidelines of a gas forum. Iranian officials attended the gathering although minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh did not come.
At the meeting, OPEC member countries proposed Iran cap its oil output at 3.92 million barrels per day (bpd), a source familiar with the proposal told Reuters.
Iran has previously said it would accept a freeze at between 4.0 and 4.2 million bpd.
Persian Gulf OPEC sources have said they wanted Iran to cap output at around 3.6-3.7 million bpd — the volume the Islamic Republic is currently producing, according to OPEC estimates.
The source said Tehran had yet to respond to the proposal.
Iran's OPEC governor, who attended Friday's talks, said he was optimistic that the producer group would reach a deal when it gathers formally in Vienna on November 30.
Falih said the Friday meeting went well, but declined further comment.
If OPEC reaches a deal on November 30, it may also draw support from non-OPEC members including Russia, which promised to cooperate but so far has refrained from any firm commitment.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak participated in Friday's meeting and said he thought OPEC was moving closer to a deal. If an agreement were reached, Russia was prepared to join and cap output for six months or longer, Novak said.
He also said more non-OPEC producers could join such a pact. The Azeri Energy Ministry said on Friday it would send a delegation to consultations in Vienna later this month.
Earlier, Qatar said it is negotiating with Iran and Iraq to freeze their oil production at “current levels” as OPEC is preparing to put a proposal devised by Saudi Arabia to cap production later this month.
"We are discussing with both countries on that and we are looking at various ways and means of coming to a mutual understanding," Qatar’s Energy Minister Mohammed Al-Sada told reporters, Press TV reported.
Both Iran and Iraq are yet to react to the remarks of the Qatari minister.
OPEC agreed in Algeria in September to cut oil production to 32.5 million barrels a day (mbd) from current level of 33.24 mbd to boost the market.
However, disagreements persist among producers on details of a plan to cut the output.
The group will discuss concrete levels of output by each country at its next formal meeting on November 30 in Vienna, Xinhua reported.
OPEC’s oil production cut will cap output at 32.5 mbd in order to rebalance the supply-side of the oil market, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Khalid al-Falih said on Thursday.
OPEC must cut more than one mbd if it wants to squeeze under that ceiling, and Saudi Arabia will be expected to do most of the heavy lifting as Iran and Iraq — two of the bloc’s largest oil producers — will only be freezing production at current levels, not cutting, the OilPrice.com reported.
Previous reporting on the coming deal said that Iran, Libya and Nigeria would be exempted from the agreement’s production restraints due to the international sanctions, civil wars and domestic insurgencies each country has faced, respectively.
Once the special exemptions were announced, Iraq also demanded an exemption from the deal as it faces the hiking costs of the battle against the Daesh in Mosul –one of the terrorist group’s last major strongholds in the country, OilPrice.com further added.
