Oil prices may hit $80 a barrel: Iran report

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Oil prices could surge to $80 a barrel this year because of tropical storms, rising demand for gasoline and disruptions in crude supplies from Nigeria, a senior Iranian oil official said on Sunday.

“The $80 price is a maximum forecast for oil in the current year but the average price of oil in the current year will be $66.20,” Mohammad Ali Khatibi, deputy director for international affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said.


Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency carried the remarks.

Khatibi said storms, like Cyclone Gonu that lashed the south of Iran and disrupted oil exports from nearby Oman last week, could help drive the price to around $80 a barrel — although he did not specify which benchmark crude he was referring to.

“Based on forecasts, within the next three months … the increase in gasoline consumption, seasonal storms and problems in Nigeria’s oil supply will cause the price of oil to seriously increase,” he was quoted as saying.

Reuters