Ramin Mostafavi
Reuters/Tehran
1/16/2011
(Reuters) – OPEC’s leading oil price hawk Iran joined Venezuela and Libya on Sunday to say it saw no need for the cartel to consider raising crude supplies to rein in crude prices now near $100 a barrel.
Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries saw no need for producers to act even if prices went to $120 a barrel. The comments will be of concern for consumer countries worried that rising commodity costs are igniting inflation and jeopardizing economic recovery.
“None of the OPEC members find $100 concerning or irrational. Some of the OPEC members see no need for an emergency meeting even with prices at $110 or $120,” Mirkazemi, OPEC president for 2011, told a news conference.
“None of the members have asked for an emergency meeting and I think for a long time there would be no such request,” Mirkazemi said.
As holder of the rotating OPEC presidency, Iran has responsibility for coordinating any emergency meeting with OPEC’s Vienna based secretariat. The next scheduled meeting is not until June 2.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Sunday that $100 was “fair value” for crude, a position that Libya also backs.
Benchmark Brent crude broke $99 a barrel on Friday, a 27-month high, while U.S. oil futures rose to $91.54, well above the $70-$80 range that OPEC’s most influential member Saudi Arabia says is comfortable for both producers and consumers.
The article continues at Reuters.
