The Islamic Republic is against any increase in output by OPEC oil producers, a top Iranian oil official said on Monday ahead of a scheduled meeting of the oil cartel in Vienna.
"There is no need to increase production of OPEC countries at the 159th meeting of the organization," Tehran's representative to OPEC Mohammad Ali Khatami was quoted as saying on the state television website.
OPEC's second biggest crude producer, Iran favors high oil prices and traditionally opposes an increase in production of the cartel.
"The market is balanced... the downward trend in oil prices means that producers must be very cautious before any increase in output," he said.
His remarks come ahead of OPEC's meeting on Wednesday in Vienna, where the new caretaker oil minister Mohammad Aliabadi will make his first appearance, the ministry's news agency Shana reported.
Iran currently holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Aliabadi, who took office on Monday, replaced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who had personally taken charge of Iran's most strategic sector after dismissing Masoud Mirkazemi as oil minister three weeks ago.
Mirkazemi was sacked after Ahmadinejad decided to merge the oil ministry into the energy portfolio, a decision opposed by lawmakers who have also criticized the appointment of Aliabadi, a close Ahmadinejad ally.
OPEC, holding its meeting against the backdrop of stalemate in the Libyan crisis, is likely to leave production quotas unchanged despite soaring crude oil prices beyond the 100-dollar mark in recent months and increased pressure from consumer countries, analysts said.
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