The man President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put in charge of the Oil Ministry less than a week ago will represent Iran at Wednesday's Opec meeting in Vienna, the Oil Ministry said on its website on Monday. "The new caretaker of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Oil Ministry (Mohammad Aliabadi) will go to Austria to attend the 159th Opec meeting," SHANA reported, citing Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.
The confirmation ended weeks of speculation about who would represent the group's second-largest producer at Opec. Iran is likely to counter pressure from Gulf Arab nations to increase oil output to calm high prices. Speaking at his induction ceremony on Monday, Aliabadi, whose last job was head of Iran's Olympic Committee, dismissed criticisms of his lack of oil experience, saying he had been involved in the rebuilding of refineries and petrochemcial plants after the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
"I have been familiar with this industry since (Iranian year) 1354 (1975)," he said, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency. "I am not seeking to monopolise oil," he added and said his close relationship with Ahmadinejad would be of use in the new job. "I will use this 30-year friendship to simplify problem solving at the Oil Ministry," he said.
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