The target price of crude oil should be at least $150 per barrel, Iran’s oil minister warned yesterday.
“During the winter, oil prices always climb,” Rostam Qasemi told Iranian media. “So, it’s natural that this year as well we will have a rise in oil prices in the winter.”Oil prices closed last Friday at $118 a barrel. Qasemi claimed a 30 percent spike in prices wouldn’t impact the world economy.
But Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, already announced steps to push the prices lower to avoid damaging the global economy.
Separately, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, who represents Iran on the board of governors of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said the US should work on reducing its own budget deficits rather than blame oil prices for its woes.