OPEC deadlocks over Iran, Iraq oil production

A meeting of OPEC national delegates on Friday ended in a deadlock as Iraq and Iran disputed the data being used to allocate production cuts, officials said, Wall Street Journal‎ reported.

Iraq and Iran are both intent on ramping up output, a goal that threatens the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ plan to boost oil prices by limiting the 14-nation cartel’s production. Iraq is fighting an intensifying expensive war to uproot Islamic State while Iran is trying to claw back oil-market share now that international sanctions over its nuclear program have ended.

The gathering of experts at OPEC’s Vienna headquarters was supposed to prepare a detailed proposal on how to carry out production cuts that the cartel agreed to on principle in September. A global glut of oil, fueled in part by record OPEC production, has sent crude prices to their lowest levels in over a decade his year.

Instead, the meeting dragged on for more than 12 hours as Iran and Iraq refused to agree to put any curbs on their output, OPEC officials said.