Iran hails cooperation between OPEC, non-OPEC countries for maintaining oil market stability

TEHRAN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Tuesday praised the cooperation between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members for helping stabilize the oil market.

The convergence of the OPEC and non-OPEC members, particularly Russia, regarding the agreement to cut oil output in the past six months has led to a "balanced" oil market, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said before meeting Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy Fernando Coelho Filho.

"The cooperation of non-OPEC countries, in particular Russia, is good in the deal to reduce oil supply, and I think the market is moving toward stability," Zanganeh said.

Russia has been key to the agreement under which OPEC members have undertaken to trim oil supplies by 1.2 million barrels per day, with non-OPEC members cutting a further 600,000 barrels.

The Iranian minister added that Iran welcomes the cooperation of all non-OPEC oil producers, particularly Brazil, on cutting oil supplies.

On the much-delayed pipeline project between Iran and Pakistan, Zanganeh said a third party is needed to solve the issue by building the section of the pipeline within Pakistan.

He said that a number of international oil and gas companies are interested in this project, but no deal has been reached so far.

The project has faced repeated delays since it was conceived in the 1990s to connect Iran's South Pars gas field to Pakistan. Iran has completed construction of its side of the pipeline and is waiting for Pakistan to finish its part of work.