ID :
176872
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 19:11
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Minister Blames Energy Market Instability on Western Militarism

TEHRAN, April 20 (FNA)- Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mir-Kazzemi described the western countries' militaristic approach to the regional issues as the root cause of instability in the global energy market, and cautioned that the West's military invasions of the regional countries have portrayed gloomy prospects for energy security.
"Military buildup does not result in energy security, rather it causes instability in the energy market," the Iranian minister stated, addressing an OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) conference here in Tehran on Tuesday.

The minister also voiced strong opposition to politically-tainted attitudes towards economic issues, and cautioned, "Politicizing oil and its relevant issues is like politicizing the World Trade Organization (WTO)."

He further urged for interaction among the world states to resolve their problems and differences, saying that formulating win-win interactions would certainly help restore security to the world energy market.

Global oil prices rose sharply after the NATO-led military operation in Libya last month.

Libya is one of the world's largest oil exporters and a member of the OPEC oil producers' cartel. Production has dropped to a trickle, down from a pre-crisis level of 1.58m barrels a day.

OPEC, created at the Baghdad Conference on September 10-14, 1960, is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

Iran currently holds the rotating presidency of the oil cartel.

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