Asian refiners are seeking alternatives to Iranian oil from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq after the United States pledged to renew sanctions on Iran, Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) Chief Executive Officer Nizar al-Adsani told Reuters. Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Beijing, al-Adsani confirmed KPC has increased output by 85,000 barrels per day (bpd) as part of last month’s agreement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to raise output. Any further increases would depend on OPEC, he said on Monday. “There is demand now ... as sanctions are implemented on Iran ... Some of the companies are trying to find other options other than Iran, be it the kingdom (Saudi Arabia), Emirates, Iraq or Kuwait,” he said. Also speaking to Reuters at the event, Kuwait’s Oil Minister Bakheet al-Rashidi said he does not expect OPEC to hold another meeting to discuss the oil market before its next scheduled gathering in December. “The market is stable enough, we’ll be producing more than enough to stabilize (the oil) market,” he said. Al-Adsani and al-Rashidi were speaking on the sidelines of an event during Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah’s state visit to Beijing this week to attend a China-Arab summit. Their comments come after last month’s OPEC meeting where the group, along with non-OPEC producers such as Russia, agreed to raise output from July by about 1 million bpd. The United States, China and India had urged oil producers to release more supply to prevent an oil deficit that could undermine global economic growth. In a related development, officials from Shandong Dongming Petrochemical Group, China’s largest private refiner, said the firm has bought a 1.9-million barrel cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil for end-July loading, the first of its kind since the plant started importing the commodity in 2015. The cargo was of Kuwait Export Blend, one of Kuwait Petroleum Corp’s main export grades, with a sulphur content of 2.5 percent, the officials said. The purchase was partly to compensate for a decline in Venezuelan heavy grade Merey, said one of the officials. Venezuelan oil exports to China could sink to multi-year lows in July as the OPEC producer struggles with shrinking output and logistics hurdles.