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Iran committed to stable oil price: oil minister
AFP
KUALA LUMPUR
Petroleumworld.com 06 11 07Iran on Monday said it was committed, along with other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to ensuring a fair price and stable supply of crude oil.
"OPEC producers including Iran, have repeatedly stressed their strong commitment to supply security and fair prices," Iran's oil minister, Seyed Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, told some 1,225 delegates at the Asia Oil and Gas Conference here.
Seyed Kazem said demand for oil was expected to rise to 117 million barrels daily (bpd) by 2030 from 34 million bpd in 2005.
Oil accounts for about 40 percent of the world's energy consumption today, he said.
Oil-rich Iran is the second-largest OPEC oil exporter after Saudi Arabia.
Seyed Kazem also said recent high oil prices were not due to a shortage.
"Now there is no shortage of crude oil in the market. Commercial stocks are in the very high and confortable levels. The hike in the oil price is not due to this problem," he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
Asked if oil prices could hit 80 dollars this year due to rising demand for gasoline (petrol) and disruption to supplies from Nigeria, Seyed Kazem said: "We cannot predict what will happen to the (oil) prices."
Analysts have said the long-standing problem between Iran and the West over Teheran's ambitious nuclear programme has also helped push prices up.
About half of the world's proven oil reserves are in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq at 264, 136 and 115 billion barrels respectively.
AFP 11 0842 GMT 06 07
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