Iran sees pre-election US bid to reduce oil price

TEHRAN (Reuters) – A senior Iranian oil official said on Saturday he expected the oil price to fall ahead of November’s U.S. presidential election, suggesting Washington would seek to push it down for political reasons.

Hojjatollah Ghanimifard told the Fars News Agency that “those in political power in the (United States) will try to (influence) the market through various factors to create interest in voters to elect individuals of their preference.”


“In view of the U.S. presidential election and the fact that the U.S. is the biggest consumer of oil products, oil prices will face a decline in summer,” Ghanimifard, international affairs director of the National Iranian Oil Company, said.

He said this trend would continue until after the election, without elaborating on how the United States could try to drive crude prices lower.

Ghanimifard last month also said oil prices would slide before the U.S. election but rise after that.

Reuters