OREANDA-NEWS. Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh threw down the gauntlet in comments directed at surging Opec producers Iraq and Saudi Arabia, just days after lending support to a possible emergency Opec meeting aimed at supporting crude prices.

"We will speed up efforts to retake the market. Even if the oil price declines by half, we will not suffer, because with a 1mn b/d increase in Iranian oil exports our income will remain stable. But the countries producing oil at full capacity that took Iran's share will suffer with fall of prices," Zanganeh said.

"If we pump oil at once into the market, a big market shock will result . We should take action from now for regaining our lost share in the market," he said. Iran will regain the 1mn b/d market share that it lost to sanctions, Zanganeh said.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq produced at record levels in July, at 10.59mn b/d and 4.19mn b/d, respectively. With crude prices tumbling, Iran and other more economically vulnerable Opec members such as Venezuela have called for an emergency gathering to discuss potential production cuts. But the core Mideast Gulf Arab members, led by Saudi Arabia, are unwilling to change policy and have no intention of convening Opec before the scheduled gathering in Vienna on 4 December.

Iran has to square the circle of wanting to increase its own exports while expressing sympathy for countries such as Algeria and Venezuela that want to see a move to bolster prices through a reduction in global output. It does this by arguing that Saudi Arabia and Iraq have taken the chunk of market share that Iran lost when the US and EU imposed sanctions in 2012 and that they should cut output to allow Iran to reclaim its pre-sanctions share.