Vienna – OPEC officials began to arrive at the organization’s headquarters in Vienna around 10 in the morning for the High Level Committee meeting to discuss means to implement the deal reached in Algeria.

On Monday November 28 discussions heated up between the committee members who began to feel the despair of reaching an agreement on reducing production.

Most OPEC members agreed to decrease their production, while Iran rejected and Iraq demanded that official numbers be issued and presented at the organization every month.

Last week, on Wednesday, the committee held its third meeting in Vienna. The previous meetings weren’t successful and one of the major producers threatened Iran to dumb the market and increase oil production if Tehran didn’t commit to the Algeria agreement.

Prior to the meeting, the ministers met in Park Hayat Hotel. They all agreed to end the meeting in agreement, amidst objections from Iraqi Minister of Petroleum who refused to admit the use of secondary sources to limit production.

Saudi Minister Khalid al-Falih was in contact with Russian Minister Alexander Novak to discuss recent updates.

According to a source, no one is able to understand the Iranian and Iraqi position, “all what we understand is that they want to stall and postpone everything until the ministerial meeting.”

OPEC meeting ended with agreement on reducing production to 32.5 million barrels per day.

In September, OPEC agreed for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008 to decrease its production.
Ten hours later, meeting of the High Level Committee ended and the officials exited the building without giving any statements. But the result was known: the meeting concluded without Iran agreeing to a specified number on its production, while Iraq agreed on 4.56 million barrel per day.

Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper knew that Saudi and Iranian representatives argued among themselves. Riyadh wanted the Algeria agreement respected, while Tehran demanded to freeze their production at the highest level.

Most ministers remained optimistic, including Emirates Minister of Energy Suhail al-Mazroui, Kuwaiti Minister of Energy Anas Saleh and the Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Kachikwu.

The upcoming months will determine whether OPEC’s agreement has been successful or not.

Former Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali al-Noaimi reported that the OPEC agreement might be successful, but it depends on how the countries commit to it.