The head of the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan, Natig Aliyev, said today that the republic is ready to sign a document to freeze the level of oil production together with other oil producing countries.
"Draft Agreement is small and sounds as follows: the countries, gathered in Doha, came to the conclusion that in order to bring the price of oil, they agreed to keep production until October at the level of January 2016," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
Moreover, this document will be in a way a "gentleman's agreement," because currently there are no mechanisms for monitoring its implementation.
At the same time, other players at the oil market make less encouraging statements. Prince Mohammad bin Salman, speaking at King Salman’s private farm in Diriyah, acknowledged that it would be favorable if oil prices rose, but said that low prices were not of foremost concern for Saudi Arabia. “If prices went up to $60 or $70, that would be a strong factor to push forward the wheel of development,” Prince Mohammed said. “But this battle is not my battle. It’s the battle of others who are suffering from low oil prices.”
Tehran confirmed that it would not participate in the meeting: while welcoming any efforts on stabilizing the oil market, the Islamic Republic primarily intends to increase the level of its oil production to 4 million barrels per day. In this regard, Iran has "no justifiable reason to travel to Doha" for the discussion on the freezing of production among oil-exporting countries, Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Amirhosseyn Zamani-Nia stated.
