S. Arabia vows not to raise output if Iranian crude sanctioned

TEHRAN,Dec.15(MNA)-- Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told reporters on Wednesday that his Saudi counterpart Ali Naimi had promised that Riyadh would not increase oil production in case the West introduces an oil embargo against Iran. The U.S. is reportedly seeking Saudi assurances that they are ready to make up for Iranian crude lost from the market should sanctions be imposed on Iran’s crude. According to the Associated Press, Ghasemi said he spoke to Naimi and Naimi "rejects" the notion "that he wants to replace Iranian crude if Iran faces (such) sanctions." Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics, has said any embargo on Iran’s crude would not reduce the amount of oil on the market. "If the Iranians can't sell to the Europeans, they sell it to China," he said. "Someone Sanctions on oil industry is irrational Qasemi also told the opening meeting of OPEC in Vienna on Wednesday that the imposition of Western sanctions on Iran’s oil industry was irrational, the Fars news agency reported. The Iranian minister also said that currently oil prices are “fair” and efforts should be made to maintain the balance in the market. However, he added OPEC should not be the sole body responsible for the stability in the oil market asking non-OPEC oil producers to play their role in this regard. OPEC, which pumps a third of the world's oil, forecast 2011 demand growing by just 0.88 million bpd to 87.81 million bpd. It is the first time this year that OPEC has cut its oil demand growth estimate to below 1 million bpd. For 2012, it cut demand by 70,000 bpd to 1.19 million bpd, according to Reuters. Eni's CEO met with Iranian oil minister According to the Dow Jones, Eni SpA's chief executive met with Iran's oil minister on Tuesday in Vienna, an Iranian oil official said, days after the Italian oil company had said it was still owed nearly $2 billion by the Islamic Republic. The meeting took place on the sidelines of OPEC meeting, which was presided over by Qasemi the current OPEC president. Eni was worried that an oil embargo on Iran would complicate payments it gets from Iran in crude shipments, its top executive had said earlier. Iran is paying Eni in crude cargoes for previous work undertaken by the Italian oil major in the Islamic republic. "We are more worried about the payments of crude that NIOC [National Iranian Oil Co.] are making to us for our previous activities," Scaroni told reporters in Qatar's capital recently. Scaroni said at the time that he hoped any European Union ban on buying Iranian crude would still allow Eni to receive oil payments from Iran. "We feel that this will be exempt from any ban," Scaroni said. "We feel there is a difference between importing crude and receiving crude."