An oil tanker is docked at the shipping terminal of PDVSA’s Jose Antonio Anzoategui industrial complex in Anzoategui state April 15, 2015 while oil is pumped into it. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
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- US sanctions against Venezuela, Iran cut oil production
- The consuming countries are putting pressure on the producing countries to increase production
SCHLOSS ELMAU, Germany, June 27 (Reuters) – The international community should explore all options to alleviate Russia’s energy shortage that has been driving up prices, including talks with producing nations like Iran and Venezuela, a French Presidency official said on Monday.
Venezuela has been under US oil sanctions since 2019 and could divert crude oil if those restrictions were lifted.
Indirect talks between Iran and the United States to revive a nuclear deal that could lead to the lifting of sanctions on Tehran and the resumption of its oil exports have been on hold since March but are expected to resume soon in Doha. Continue reading
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“There are resources elsewhere that need to be explored,” said a French official on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Germany when asked how to alleviate high oil prices.
The open issue between Iran and the United States is no longer linked to the nuclear dossier but to US terror sanctions, he said.
“So there is a knot that may need to be untied…to get Iranian oil back on the market,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “We have Venezuelan oil that needs to be put back on the market.”
A second official said all options must be considered in light of the operations, including those involving Iran and Venezuela.
The first official called for a temporary boost in production from oil-producing nations and said attempts are being made to persuade them to do so.
France wants a proposed oil price cap mechanism to be as broad as possible and not limited to Russian production, which the official said could lack efficiency given supply and demand dynamics.
“We want to consolidate the position of the buyers so that we are better positioned towards Russia. Therefore, we need to diversify supplies and reach the producing countries,” the French official said.
“We want the producing countries to temporarily produce more to get past the peak of the crisis.”
CONTACT WITH PRODUCERS
The official said public relations would begin with US President Joe Biden’s trip to the oil-producing Gulf in July.
French President Emmanuel Macron was caught by Reuters TV hurrying to tell Biden he had spoken to the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (MbZ), who had told him that the UAE and Saudi -Arabia could hardly increase oil production. Continue reading
“I had a call with MbZ,” Macron Biden said after interrupting a conversation between the US leader and his national security adviser Jake Sullivan on the sidelines of the G7.
“He told me two things. I’m at the maximum, maximum (production capacity). That’s what he claims… and then he said that (the) Saudis can gain 150 (thousands of barrels a day).
“Maybe a little bit more, but they don’t have big capacities six months ago,” Macron said, before being asked to continue the discussions indoors without cameras.
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reporting from John Irish and Reuters TV; Edited by Jan Harvey and Chizu Nomiyama
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.