Reuters: Iran's OPEC governor said crude prices were expected to reach $80 a barrel by January, the oil ministry website, SHANA, reported on Sunday.
TEHRAN, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Iran's OPEC governor said crude prices were expected to reach $80 a barrel by January, the oil ministry website, SHANA, reported on Sunday.
"Because of encouraging developments in the oil market, the oil prices will reach $80 per barrel by the end of this year," Mohammad Ali Khatibi said.
Khatibi's remarks contradicted his comments on Friday when he said the prices were "not expected to increase by January".
Oil climbed above $67 on Friday, rising for a second day on renewed expectations, mainly on equity markets, of a global economic recovery that may increase the world's energy demand.
Iran's OPEC governor said on Friday that some of the cartel members may demand in its next meeting further crude production cut if oil prices continued to drop.
U.S. light crude was up 35 cents at $67.29 a barrel by 0758 GMT. London Brent crude gained 16 cents to $70.27.
On Thursday, oil jumped more than 5 percent, to register its biggest one day gain since early April, as U.S. data showed the number of workers staying on jobless rolls fell to the lowest in three months last week. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Hans Peters)
