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OPEC chief says 100 percent against Iran oil embargo

14 June 2012 11:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Konul Jafarli - APAOPEC Secretary General Abdullah El-Badri has expressed his strong opposition to the planned embargo considered by the European Union against Iran, APA reports quoting Press TV.

"I am really against this [embargo] 100 percent," he said at the start of a two-day oil conference in Vienna on Wednesday.

"Iran is a founder member, it has a great ability to produce oil," Badri said.

"So I hope that this embargo will be lifted somehow, by discussion and by... peaceful solutions," he added.

The OPEC chief made the remarks as the European Union is preparing to impose an oil embargo on Iran on July 1. Iran, OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, has already cut oil exports to several European countries in response to the EU threats of sanctions. The 12 members of the OPEC have started discussing production quotas in Vienna. OPEC member states are divided over output policy as Saudi Arabia is insisting on existing output levels to be raised, but other members including Venezuela want production to be slashed.