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Azerbaijan’s president says his country will not increase oil output

"We expect that other oil-producing states will back up this approach and undertake similar steps," Ilham Aliyev said
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

BAKU, October 22. /TASS/. Azerbaijan has no plans to increase oil production and export, President Ilham Aliyev told reporters on Saturday after a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro.

"As I once officially said, Azerbaijan unilaterally pledges not to increase output and export of oil," Aliyev said, underlining that the step "is needed to stabilize the world oil market and to prop up oil prices." "We expect that other oil-producing states will back up this approach and undertake similar steps," he said.

Earlier, Aliyev had held talks with Maduro. The Venezuelan president is making snap visits to oil-producing countries — both members and non-members of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) — with the aim to stabilize the world oil market. Azerbaijan was Maduro’s first destination.

From Azerbaijan, Maduro is expected to head for Iran to hold talks with President Hassan Rouhani. Iran’s president said earlier that he supported "any steps aimed at stabilizing the oil market, at establishing a fair oil price and at determining a fair share of producers in this market."

"In this connection, we think it is necessary to coordinate steps of the countries that are or are not OPEC members," Rouhani said.

On September 28, OPEC member states, at an informal meeting within the framework of the 15th International Energy Forum in Algiers, sealed a deal reducing oil production to a range of 32.5-33 million barrels per day. The first meeting of the OPEC’s High Level Committee in charge of the Algiers deal implementation will take place in Vienna on October 28-29. OPEC non-member countries that joined consultations on an expected output freeze deal, with Russia among them, are due to participate in the meeting on October 29.