A senior official from the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter says crude prices will not hit $250 a barrel in the near future.

“I think there is no real prospect of crude skyrocketing to $250 a barrel this year,” said the Director of International Affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Hojjatollah Ghanimifard.“When experts study oil hikes and declines, they first evaluate which factors should be taken into consideration and whether the processed information spans enough time,” the Iranian official argued.“Figures[that suggest a surge to $250] are perhaps predictions with no scientific basis,” he told Mehr News Agency in a Friday interview.Oil prices on Thursday surged to an all-time high of over $146 a barrel. Brent peaked at $146.69 before falling back to $146.08; US crude jumped $1.72 to $145.29 after having hit $145.85.Chief executive of the Russian energy giant Gazprom Alexei Miller warned on June 10 that oil prices could hit as high as $250 a barrel by next year.“Today we are witnessing a very great change for hydrocarbons. The[oil price] is very high and we think it will reach $250 a barrel,” Miller said.(Source: PressTV)