OPEC will not cut oil production because of Iran, analysts say

Almaty. February 23. Silkroadnews - OPEC will not cut the oil production because of Iran, Emma Richards, an oil and gas analyst with BMI Research, which is a part of Fitch Group, believes.
“OPEC’s current policy is to allow the lower price to clear the market of the higher cost barrels. That policy’s just beginning to bear fruit, so a cut at this stage would be counter-productive,” Trend quotes Richards as saying.
    Some members of OPEC discuss the idea to stabilize the oil prices by freezing the current level of production. The countries outside the cartel also joined the discussions.
As for the possibility of OPEC’s cooperation, in particular, with Russia on the production cut, E. Richards believes it is not in the interests of the Russian companies.
In her opinion, Iran will be an obstacle for OPEC to cut the oil production.
“Given how much relations have deteriorated between the two, Saudi Arabia wouldn’t be willing to cut unless there was a cut from Iran also,” - Richards said.    
Iran announced its plans to increase oil production by 500 thousand barrels per day immediately after the sanctions removal. Over the next six months, Iran is going to increase production by another half a million barrels per day.
According to the latest OPEC report, in January Iran boosted production up to 2.925 million barrels per day from the previous month 2.887 million barrels per day.