Reuters: A senior Iranian oil official said in remarks published on Thursday that oil prices would slide before the U.S. presidential election in November but rise after that. TEHRAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) – A senior Iranian oil official said in remarks published on Thursday that oil prices would slide before the U.S. presidential election in November but rise after that.
Crude prices hit a record high over $100 a barrel in January but have slipped back since then. Prices averaged around $72 a barrel in 2007, up from $66 the previous year.
“After America’s (presidential) election, oil prices will continue to go up,” the daily Jahan-e Eqtesad newspaper quoted Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, international affairs director at the National Iranian Oil Company, as saying.
“It seems that oil prices will go down from the end of the summer and would continue to decrease until the (U.S.) election,” he added without elaborating.
The U.S. government’s top energy forecasting agency has said it expected a combination of slower oil demand growth, higher OPEC crude production capacity and more oil output from other countries help ease tight global petroleum supplies.
As a result of weaker demand, crude oil prices are forecast to fall from current levels of around $93 a barrel to an average $86 for this year and $82 in 2009. (Writing by Zahra Hosseinian; Editing by Valerie Lee)
