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UN Security Council to review Iran nuke case
(AP/Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-31 15:27

Iran: No link between oil exports and pressure over its nuclear program 

Iran sees no connection between its oil exports and international pressure over its nuclear program, and will not stop exporting crude, the nation's oil minister said Tuesday.

"We have no reason to stop our exports," because of the nuclear issue, Oil minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said before Tuesday's meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. "From our point of view there's no link between the two."

The possibility that Iran could be referred to the Security Council for economic sanctions over its nuclear ambitions has overshadowed this week's meeting.

Iran, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, insists the program is aimed at generating electricity, while the U.S. and some European nations fear it could be used to develop nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency is to meet to discuss Iran on Thursday.

Libyan oil minister Fathi Hamed Ben Shatwan expressed concern Tuesday about what effect that might have on the market.

"Everybody (is) frightened that something will happen," he said, adding that the group would monitor pricing and supply. "We're going to meet and watch the market."

OPEC has already agreed, in principle, to keep its output quota unchanged at 28 million barrels a day when ministers meet Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali Naimi said.

But the group seemed less cohesive on the question of whether a cut may come at the next meeting in March.

OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said he doesn't see a cut in OPEC's production ceiling as likely when the group meets again, and it wouldn't affect second-quarter supply if the group agreed to do so.

But Qatari oil minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said Monday that "all options are open" for the next meeting. Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez went even further, saying that OPEC had reached a consensus to be ready for a cut then.

Shatwan demurred when asked if a cut would be made at the next meeting, but said if that decision were made, it would take effect April 1 and be between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day.

Before this week's meeting, Iran had said that a buildup of excess supply was a reason to cut production. Venezuela, which consistently argues in favor of defending high oil prices, had said it would support such a move.

Ramirez said oil prices at US$67 a barrel aren't too high, and pointed to U.S. pressure on Iran _ which exports some 2.4 million barrels a day _ as keeping them at their current level.

"If the pressure continues on Iran, the price will be higher," Ramirez said before a breakfast meeting of OPEC members.

Crude oil prices fell Tuesday. Light, sweet crude for March delivery dropped 15 cents to US$68.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March Brent crude futures on London's ICE Futures exchange lost 17 cents to US$66.42 a barrel.

Daukoru said OPEC remains "fairly confident" about the outlook for the global economy this year, and that it had remained resilient despite higher oil prices.

Markets have been jittery recently, in part over worries about a disruption in supplies from Iran.

Ramirez said his country _ the fifth-largest oil-exporter and a major supplier to the United States _ would fully back Iran in its showdown with the west.

Daukoru said OPEC shouldn't intervene in the situation.

"It's not OPEC's place to get in the middle of any dispute between Iran and the U.S.," he said.

He said earlier that the effect of an escalating dispute would be hard to gauge.

"Nobody can really foresee how that is going to look. It's not something anybody would want," Daukoru said. "We would only hope that it is resolved amicably."

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