Iran oil price cut nothing to do with rivalry with Saudi Arabia: NIOC

10/13/14

Source: Press TV



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An Iranian oil official has dismissed reports that Iran's crude price reduction is due to the country's rivalry with Saudi Arabia in the oil market.

"Iran's oil price cut proportionate to [that of] Saudi Arabia does not mean that Iran seeks to have a deliberate competition with Saudi Arabia," Mohsen Qamsari, director for international affairs at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said on Saturday.

Since Saudi Arabia's official oil price in all markets has dropped over the current month, it is natural for the Iranian crude price to decrease proportionally due to technical reasons and it has nothing to do with competition between the two states, Qamsari said.

He enumerated some of the technical reasons for the crude price fall, including the economic situation, supply and demand in the market and the price of petroleum products in the market.

In a recent report, Bloomberg reported that Iran has slashed its crude prices in an attempt to attract Asian customers following Saudi Arabia's decision to cut its oil price to the lowest level since 2008.

Based on the report, as of November Iran will sell light crude, the country's most important type of oil, in the Asian market 82 cents lower than the average prices offered by Oman and Dubai.

The new Iranian oil price sees a one-dollar drop compared with October and it will be the country's lowest crude price since 2008, the report said.

In May, the NIOC said oil production capacity of the Islamic Republic would reach four million barrels per day by the end of the current Persian calendar year in March 2015.

Iran will be capable of exploiting its oil reservoir for the next six decades as the country has raised its estimated crude reserves to 157 billion barrels, the NIOC says.