Iran Cuts Oil Output

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran said it cuts oil output by 545,000 barrels per day from Thursday, Jan. 1 in line with OPEC’s decision to reduce production in its bid to try to shore up tumbling crude prices.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed in Algeria this month to cut output by a further 2.2 million bpd from Jan. 1, bringing total cuts by the group from its September 2008 production levels to 4.2 million bpd.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, starting from tomorrow, will cut its crude production by about 14 percent,” Seifollah Jashnsaz, the head of state-owned National Iranian Oil Company, said on Wednesday.

“From tomorrow the daily crude production of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be reduced by 545,000 bpd,” he said.

Iran’s governor to OPEC, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, also said Iran would reduce output by roughly 545,000 bpd, a figure that is Iran’s share of all recently agreed OPEC curbs.

“We are always respecting our commitment to OPEC,” he said.

“We are cutting our production from what we produced in September,” Khatibi told Reuters. But he did not give a figure for September production and said there was no consensus among secondary sources about what Iran produced.