Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that oil prices
would not stay low for long as producers restore market balance.
"The price of oil is at a low level ... I don't think it will
last in the long term ... The pressure on oil-producing nations
means balance will be restored in the short term," Rouhani, whose
country is the third-largest producer in OPEC, said at the French
Institute of International Relations.
Pragmatist Rouhani arrived in France on Wednesday on the second
leg of a state visit to Europe after three days in Italy. Iran is
pushing to boost oil exports now that international sanctions
against it have been lifted.
Reiterating Iran's official stance, Rouhani blamed Shi'ite Iran's
Sunni regional rival Saudi Arabia for the drop in oil prices, which
have halved since last May as global supply outstrips demand.
Oil futures surged on Wednesday after non-OPEC member Russia
indicated there was a possibility of cooperation with the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to curb output
and thus raise the crude price, currently near $33 a barrel.
Nikolai Tokarev, head of Russia's oil pipeline monopoly
Transneft, said on Wednesday Russian officials had decided they
should talk to Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries about
output cuts aimed at bolstering crude prices.
But Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Tehran had not
been contacted by Moscow over oil output cuts.
"I have not received anything," Zanganeh said at a
Franco-Iranian summit in Paris, adding that Iran would sign an
agreement with French oil major Total.
"We will sign an agreement with Total (this) afternoon," he
said, without elaborating. Total declined to comment.
© 2016 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.