[caption id="attachment_30726" align="alignright" width="186"] The headquarters the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Vienna, Austria[/caption]
Tehran, March 8, IRNA -- Iran has the largest number of experts in OPEC’s Secretariat, which might lead to the appointment of an Iranian official as the organization’s secretary-general.




The country is one of the founders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that has 12 member states, Mehr News Agency reported.

Iran’s candidate for the position is Gholamhossein Nozari, the former oil minister and ex-managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company.

In addition to Hojjatollah Ghanimi-Fard, who holds a key position in OPEC, six other Iranian experts are active in the organization.

The organization’s current secretary-general is Libya’s Abdalla Salem el-Badri who has been holding the position since 2007.

In their latest meeting, the organization’s member states decided to extend el-Badri’s tenure for another year.

Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have submitted the names of their candidates to the organization’s secretariat.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq have proposed Majid al-Moneef, the country’s governor to OPEC, and Samir al-Qazban, the prime minister’s senior advisor in energy affairs, respectively for the post.

The present production ceiling of OPEC’s member countries has been set at 30 million barrels of oil per day.

OPEC is a permanent intergovernmental organization of 12 oil-exporting developing nations that coordinates and unifies the oil policies of its member countries.


By IRNA