As the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has reached a deal among all 14 members to cut oil production for the first time since 2008, Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said his country was ready to do its part by reducing 300,000 barrels per day in the first half of 2017, provided OPEC adheres to the level of 32.5 mln barrels daily adjusted for Indonesia and on condition of maximum reciprocity from other non-OPEC countries. Russia is not an OPEC member.
Saudi Arabia and Iran may yet come to terms on some sort of production arrangement, but the outcome of the negotiations in Algeria this week may not do much to rescue oil prices. Following the media spectacle, the oil markets may have to shift their attention back to the supply and demand fundamentals, which are not reassuring
Iran rejected on Tuesday an offer from Saudi Arabia to limit its oil output in exchange for Riyadh cutting supply, dashing market hopes the two major OPEC producers would find a compromise this week to help ease a global glut of crude.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro named Chief General Jesus Gonzalez as the country's new ambassador to Iran on Saturday, while announcing the beginning of a new dynamic era in Caracas-Tehran bilateral relations.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino will visit Russia, Qatar, Iran and Saudi Arabia on a tour of OPEC and non-OPEC countries intended to drum up support for action to stem the tumble in crude prices.
Generating economic growth in the Middle East is crucial to defeating extremism, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said putting forward his country as a regional trade hub and pillar of stability. Rouhani is on a four-day trip to Italy and France, looking to rebuild Iranian relations with the West some two weeks after financial sanctions on Tehran were rolled back following the implementation of its nuclear deal with world powers.
The governments of Spain and Iran are discussing the possible construction of an Iranian-owned refinery in Algeciras, Spain and across from Gibraltar, after the Islamic Republic re-opens for business following the lifting of international sanctions.
By James Stafford of Oilprice.com - The rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran has quickly ballooned into the worst conflict in decades between the two countries. The back-and-forth escalation quickly turned the simmering tension into an overt struggle for power in the Middle East
Argentina's divisive 2013 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran was finally dropped became after Argentine Federal Judges Juan Carlos Gemignani and Angela Ledesma accepted a request filed by the president Mauricio Macri administration Justice Ministry to drop the Executive’s appeal to the Federal Cassation Court.
Argentine journalist Daniel Santoro on Friday revealed two recordings in which former Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman is heard admitting that Iran “planted the bombs” that demolished the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994.