Stating that selecting a new secretary general is one of the issues to be discussed in the upcoming meeting of the OPEC on June 14 in Vienna, Qasemi said on Saturday that “Iran too, will introduce a nominee for the post.”
The Iranian minister further said that the Islamic Republic will insist on maintaining the OPEC's production quota ceiling during the June meeting.
Qasemi added that examination of oil market developments is another topic of discussion in the next ministerial meeting of the body.
Ecuador, the OPEC’s smallest producer, has reportedly nominated a potential successor to current OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri, whose term ends at the end of 2012.
The secretary general, the main representative on the world stage of the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, helps formulate the group’s output policy and is in charge of the Vienna secretariat of the OPEC.
Candidates from Iran and Ecuador would bring the number of the countries competing for the role to four. The two current candidates are Thamir Ghadhban, the top energy adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and Saudi Arabia’s longtime OPEC governor, Majid al-Moneef.
Iran officially took over the rotating presidency of the OPEC for the first time in 36 years in January 2011.
OPEC is a permanent intergovernmental organization of 12 oil-exporting nations including Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
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Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says the country will introduce its candidate for the position of secretary general at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the next meeting of the OPEC.
News ID 181874
