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U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude fell to less than $40 a barrel for the first time in more than six years in New York trading on Friday.
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude fell to less than $40 a barrel for the first time in more than six years in New York trading on Friday.Anthony Dipaola and Hashem Kalantari: BLOOMBERG.COM: 23 AUGUST 2015
Iran plans to raise oil production “at any cost” to defend the country’s market share and joins calls for an emergency OPEC meeting to help shore up crude prices.
“We will be raising our oil production at any cost and we have no other alternative,” said Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, according to his ministry’s news website Shana. “If Iran’s oil production hike is not done promptly, we will be losing our market share permanently.”
Iran had the second-biggest output in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries before U.S.-led sanctions banning the purchase, transport, finance and insuring of its crude began July 2012. Oil producers such as BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have expressed interest in developing its reserves, the world’s fourth-biggest, once sanctions are removed.