Saudi oil minister pledges to listen to other OPEC members

VIENNA, Austria (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia will discuss all issues at the OPEC meeting on Friday and listen to concerns of other members, said the nation’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi.

“We have a meeting on Friday, we will discuss all these issues,” al-Naimi told reporters Tuesday. “We will listen and then decide.”

Naimi spoke as he arrived in Vienna for a meeting that is widely expected to ratify the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision a year ago to defend market share rather than support prices. Some members including Iran and Venezuela continue to push for the group to reverse course and curb production.

Oil prices just completed the biggest monthly decline since July as OPEC, which pumps about 40% of the world’s supply, showed few signs of trimming production. Crude has fallen almost 40% the past year as a record surplus persisted while global producers fight for market share.

When asked if Saudi Arabia will stick to its strategy of defending its markets against competing supplies, al-Naimi said: “Who said we are keeping market share strategy? Did I ever say?”

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh sent a letter to OPEC calling for a cut in excess output, Mehr news agency reported Tuesday. The group should reduce current production of 31.3 MMbopd to come back in line with its target of 30 million, Zanganeh said.