OPEC Mediators Failing to Draw Iraq, Iran Closer

OPEC mediators mounted a new offensive Friday to break a deadlock between Iran and Iraq over oil output, but first soundings brought no hint of compromise and prompted an outburst of frustration from Kuwait.

Oil ministers from Indonesia, Nigeria and Venezuela, dubbed the “Three Wise Men,” held separate talks with Iranian and Iraqi delegations attending the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries talks in Vienna.

But comments by ministers of the hostile gulf neighbors showed that a breakthrough is not at all imminent. Iran has long ignored the OPEC quota system, insisting on an output ceiling on par with Iran, historically a bigger producer.

Iran has said it would agree to Iraq’s demand, but Baghdad has not taken this proposal seriously.

“I don’t have any news,” Iranian oil minister Gholamreza Aghazadeh told reporters after a 45-minute meeting, saying Tehran’s policy had not changed.

The session broke up over two hours later, and Indonesia’s oil minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita said: “I don’t think there has been any shift in anybody’s position.”

The deadlock prompted an apparent outburst of frustration from Kuwait’s oil minister, Sheik Ali al Khalifa al Sabah.

Asked by journalists how he viewed widespread market predictions of a slump in the price of oil to $5 a barrel if OPEC failed to reunite, he retorted: “I couldn’t care less.”

Oil prices rose Friday after the United Arab Emirates’ oil minister said the UAE was willing to cut output and back an OPEC accord.

The bitter row between Iran and Iraq has split OPEC and depressed oil prices in a glutted market