TEHRAN, April 15, (Agencies): Iran’s oil minister said on Friday there was no reason to consider global crude prices too high and described the oil market, which has been boosted by unrest in the Middle East, as “not extraordinary”.
“The price depends on the oil market.… If you consider the price … in the past 40 years, what we have today is a logical price,” Massoud Mirkazemi told a news conference on the first day of an oil and gas conference in Tehran.
Ahmad Qalebani, the head of state National Iranian Oil Company, said: “The price, which is around $120, is a good price for us.”
Talking to Reuters at the conference, Iran’s OPEC governor said the oil price would increase if tensions in the Arab world worsened and said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could do little to calm the market.
“OPEC’s capability is limited. There are fundamentals that OPEC can control, but there are non-fundamental issues like geopolitical , political, military, psychological factors which nobody can control,” Mohammad Ali Khatibi said.

“If the crisis and tension intensifies and also if some oil exporting countries get involved then, yes, the price of oil will increase,” he said.
Some members of the formally eased output restraints to accommodate the loss of exports from Libya, where conflict between the government and rebels interrupted supply. Iran has said there is no need to increase output.
Khatibi added that he saw demand for oil rising as Japan recovers from its March 11 earthquake and tsunami. “There is a balance in the market,” he said. “Demand is likely to increase after events in Japan.”
When asked about OPEC’s spare capacity, Khatibi said: “There are various figures but I believe it is 4-5 million.”
A recent Reuters poll of banks, consultancies and fund managers found on average that OPEC’s core Gulf members held spare capacity of around 3.2 million barrels per day.
“There is no special meeting scheduled. The (oil) reserves are high ... no member country has called for an extraordinary meeting,” Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi told journalists at an international exhibition of oil, gas and petrochemicals.
“As OPEC head we have not received such a thing.”

Mirkazemi said there was “enough” oil supply in the market.
“Today, it is the market which is deciding the price. When the barrel of oil was 35 dollars, nobody objected. Now it is 120 dollars, there are objections,” the minister said.
Oil prices rose in early trade Friday in Asia as a weaker dollar spurred buying interest, dealers said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rose 15 cents to $108.26 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for May delivery gained 20 cents to $122.20 in the afternoon.
OPEC raised Tuesday its growth forecast for world oil demand in 2011, expecting little import from recent events in Japan and Libya.
World oil demand will now grow by 1.39 million barrels per day (bpd), or 1.61 percent, to 87.94 million bpd, the cartel said in its latest monthly report.
For 2010, demand was put at 86.55 million barrels per day — up 2.0 million bpd — OPEC said, revising its estimate upwards slightly on the back of higher-than-expected winter consumption.
Meanwhile, an 80-percent cut in production in Libya due to the ongoing conflict — to just 250,000-300,000 bpd from a previous 1.6 million bpd — was being compensated for by other OPEC producers, it added.

Also:
SINGAPORE: Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) sold 74,000 tonnes of May spot naphtha at premiums in the high $20s a tonne level to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, the highest premium it has fetched in about ten months thanks to strong sentiment, traders said on Friday.
The volumes comprise 50,000 tonnes of full-range naphtha and 24,000 tonnes of light grade for May 22-29 loading.
The state-owned refiner had skipped spot sales in April due to refinery maintenance.


The Kuwaiti crude oil price rose $1.62 on Thursday to reach $115.57 per barrel, compared to Wednesday’s $113.95 pb, said the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) on Friday.
Oil prices went up Thursday fueled by strong economic growth in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer.
The data showed China’s economy growing more than 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2011, while the inflation rate accelerated in March to 5.4 percent, the fastest pace since 2008.