VIENNA: Saudi Arabia's energy minister on Wednesday said he was convinced OPEC members would "do the right thing" and agree to ease an oil production cap this week despite strong resistance from archfoe Iran.
"I'm confident that at the end of the day reason will prevail and we'll be doing the right thing. So stay tuned," Khalid al-Falih told reporters at an OPEC seminar in Vienna.
The comments came after Falih huddled for hours with his OPEC counterparts on the sidelines of the conference, two days ahead of a crucial meeting on the fate of an 18-month-old supply-cut pact between OPEC and non-OPEC allies that has lifted prices to around $70 a barrel.
Saudi Arabia and non-member Russia are now pushing to open the spigots again but Iran, bracing for the impact of renewed US sanctions on its oil exports, wants the OPEC+ group to stick to the agreed cuts of 1.8 million barrels a day.
Falih said every minister he had met with "agrees that it's time for us to change course", noting that global oil demand is expected to climb in the coming months.
Riyadh is also under pressure from US President Donald Trump to boost output in order to lower oil prices before US voters head to the polls for November's midterm elections.
Taking to the stage at the same Vienna seminar, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh reiterated his country's resistance to increasing output and accused Trump of trying to politicise OPEC.
"The real responsibility for the current oil price hike lies with the US president himself," Zanganeh told the audience.
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