Speaking on Wednesday, March 2, following the 26th ministerial meeting of the OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies), Mr. Owji talked about the decisions of the meeting.

“Today's decision was a continuation of last month's decision to increase daily production of the group by 400,000 barrels of oil for April 2022 with regard to the report of the joint technical committee and assessments of experts of the global economic outlook and the determining factors in the oil market during the year,” he said.

He added: "OPEC+ emphasized on its continuous and regular monitoring of market developments and the continuation of implementation of necessary measures to maintain stability of the oil market, and the countries present expressed readiness to take appropriate measures to maintain the stability of the oil market if necessary and protect the achievements of this agreement.”

"According to the latest statistics and reports, thanks to the improvement of economic indicators in the world, especially in the major oil consuming economies, and at the same time the good commitment of OPEC+ members, which reached 129% in January, global oil markets are moving toward balance and stability, despite some concerns about the Omicron variant of the virus and a number of geopolitical unrests,” said the Iranian Minister of Petroleum about the oil market.

Regarding security tensions in some parts of the world and the recent rise in world oil prices and how OPEC+ would react to these developments, Owji said: "The occurrence of political and economic crises in the world has various consequences and price fluctuations are one of these consequences, so OPEC+ is fully prepared to take appropriate action in this regard, if necessary, by closely monitoring the market.”

He added: "However, the part of the situation that goes back to the fluctuation and increase of prices is rooted in the political actions and decisions of certain countries, which on the one hand impose sanctions on major oil producers and on the other hand cause crisis and wars in different parts of the world; stabilizing the oil market and reducing price fluctuations is only possible through cooperation and changing tense approaches.”

The Minister of Petroleum said: "As I emphasized earlier, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to increase its oil supply to world markets as soon as possible, and it is up to the major consuming countries that must take the necessary actions to maintain stability and calm in the oil market.”

Owji added: "The Islamic Republic of Iran, as one of the largest oil and gas producers in the world and relying on its huge hydrocarbon resources and production capacity, is ready to take action in this field."

He added: "We are ready to enhance our crude oil output as soon as possible. According to the plans and actions taken at the level of the Ministry of Petroleum and the National Iranian Oil Company, we are able to ramp up our oil production quickly and meet the needs of our customers.”

"I have to point out that now OPEC+ is not concerned about the fundamentals of the market, including oil supply and demand in the short run, but the current concern of all producing countries is the weak oil supply in the medium term due to delays in upstream investments," he said. “This issue should be considered as an agenda.”