Iran’s candidate has high chance to be elected OPEC chief: Iranian MP

TEHRAN,June 11(MNA) – Former Iranian oil minister and current lawmaker Seyyed Masoud Mirkazemi said that there is high possibility for Iran’s representative to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to be elected as the next secretary general of the body. In an interview with Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency (ICANA) on Sunday, Mirkazemi said, “Iran is still regarded as one of the most influential countries in OPEC and the candidate introduced by Iran has high chance of becoming the next secretary general.” Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi recently named former oil minister Gholamhossein Nowzari as Iran’s representative to OPEC. Nowzari is expected to contest the post of secretary general in the official meeting of the organization in Vienna on June 14. The election of a new secretary general to replace Abdalla el-Badri of Libya, which could provide a roadmap to the cartel’s next steps, will be closely watched. Commenting on Nowzari’s qualifications to attain the post, Mirkazemi said, “Iran’s new representative to OPEC has a good experience in studying and monitoring oil markets, fluency in English and has also successfully headed Iran’s Oil Ministry for a while.” “These are good factors which raises Nowzari’s chance to become the next secretary general of the organization,” he added.