Iran, Analysts Dampen Hints of Imminent OPEC Move

DUBAI, Jul 24, 2007 (Dow Jones Commodities News)

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries doesn’t yet see any indication of heightened demand for its oil, a top Iranian oil official said Tuesday, with other officials and analysts pouring cold water on the prospect of an impending change in the producer group’s current “do-nothing” policy.

Oil prices have fallen back from their 11-month highs in recent days on assumptions that OPEC is becoming more concerned about their impact.


“We are concerned about the higher price, because we don’t want to go through a recession,” OPEC President Mohamed Al Hamli told Reuters Sunday.

However, “OPEC has not received any complaint that there’s not enough crude oil in the market,” Javad Yarjani, the oil ministry’s head of the OPEC affairs department, told Dow Jones Newswires in a phone interview from Tehran.

RigZone