Exclusive: Iran says independent OPEC repels meddlers

>VIENNA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia was swayed by pressure from the West to push for higher OPEC oil output, Iran said after it rallied others member to resist the move and the group's Wednesday meeting fell apart. Refuting Saudi accusations of obstinacy in the bitter aftermath, OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi told Reuters on Thursday that Iran had stood up for the group's independence.Consumer countries including the United States had urged OPEC to supply more oil to stop high oil prices derailing economic recovery. Khatibi questioned the motives of Saudi Arabia in echoing that call."Perhaps there is a pressure on them," Khatibi said in an interview. "Some consumer countries may have exerted pressure on them or they had special demands.""What happened shows OPEC is an independent organization," he said. "If one wants to exert pressure to make the others give up -- no."Wednesday's meeting exposed long-standing political rifts in OPEC, which for the last 10 years has worked hard to polish its image as an economic forum for oil producers.Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have most recently been at odds over the position of Shi'ites in the Arab peninsula and most heatedly in the unrest in Bahrain.Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said OPEC needed to add 1.5 million barrels per day to supply to meet higher demand in the second half of the year.

">VIENNA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia was swayed by pressure from the West to push for higher OPEC oil output, Iran said after it rallied others member to resist the move and the group's Wednesday meeting fell apart"That was backed by fellow Gulf Arabs Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates."Three members of OPEC which were lead by Saudi Arabia believed that OPEC's ceiling should be increased, but the majority did not think so," Khatibi said.ECONOMIC DIFFERENCESNaimi was quick to give reporters his inside view of the clash as soon as the meeting broke up. OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri smoothed the aftermath by stressing economic rather than political differences.Khatibi said Iran's market analysis also differed from the Saudi view."The other members needed more concrete proof to be convinced, because in the current situation there is a balance in the market," he said. "Inventories are high and there are around 64 million barrels of floating storage."If in the next meeting, they could convince the others and bring rational reasons that there is more demand we should increase the output, then I think it is a different issue."He said OPEC should not be blamed for high prices."It is the speculators who make dramatic fluctuations in the prices by their sudden buying or selling," he said. "The major oil bourses are in the United States and the UK -- OPEC does not have any control over them."Khatibi said that while $115 oil might look expensive, producers had to take into account inflation and a weak U.S. dollar."We should be careful, these are nominal prices -- not real prices," he said.

"A real price shows the actual buying power of a barrel by considering inflation and dollar devaluation.""When the dollar gets devalued we make a loss. In fact our economy has been weakened.""We should talk about the real price not the nominal price. Consumers have always enjoyed cheap prices...we are not the ones to blame, but in their propaganda this issue is reversed."Khatibi declined to claim an Iranian victory from the first meeting of its one-year presidency of OPEC."Winning or losing is absolutely not the point and inside the organization we do not have such an attitude," he said. "In OPEC, we are a family and we all work together toward the mutual interest."Different opinions in a family is a normal thing," he added. "We will discuss the issue and resolve it in the course of time."Nor had OPEC lost is influence on the world market."OPEC closely monitors the market and always feels responsible about the market," Khatibi said.

"In the case of big developments OPEC can hold an emergency meeting, therefore, it is not like anything is out of the control." Saudi Arabia