Director of Research Department of Institute for International Energy Studies noted that most OPEC members are producing at full throttle, adding, “when oil price is favorable, even reduced quotas will not stop the current production trends. Therefore, slashing production quotas will only have slight psychological impact on the market.” Mehran Amir Moeini stated that OPEC has also announced that its policy is to avoid increasing prices too high, therefore, when price of West Texas Intermediate and Brent benchmarks are still high, the organization will not mar its credibility and Saudi Arabia announced recently that it will compensate for any possible shortage in the market. A reporter asked since oil demand usually decreases in the second quarter of every year, is OPEC possible to decide about lowering output in its next meeting in March. Moeini answered, “This is possible and OPEC is even likely to call an extraordinary meeting ahead of its ordinary meeting which is scheduled for March.” The official also told Petroenergy Information Network that increased prices have nothing to do with supply, but psychological factors sway more power in the market and it is for this reason that increased supply cannot make up for pull prices down. “Current standoff on Irans nuclear case is a powerful psychological factor at present juncture. Iran is currently exported close to 2.5 million barrels per day crude oil and now that the world is concerned about absence of 200,000-300,000 barrels crude from Nigeria, Irans crude can have more clout in the market,” he said.