Iran says $100 a barrel is appropriate price for oil

“The price of $100 for oil per barrel is real ... OPEC does not need to hold an emergency meeting over the price issue,” Massoud Mirkazemi told a news conference.

Brent crude prices rallied this week to around $98 a barrel while US oil futures were at about $91, well above the $70-$80 range that OPEC’s top exporter Saudi Arabia says is comfortable for both producers and consumers.

One delegate from a Gulf OPEC member state said on Thursday OPEC could hold an emergency meeting if oil prices “exceed $100 and stay there”.

Libya, Ecuador and Venezuela have all said prices need to be higher to help producing nations maintain output.

“None of the OPEC members find $100 concerning,” Mirkazemi said, adding that some members of the producers’ group would still not see any need for an emergency meeting if the price rose to $110 or $120.

Iran holds the rotating OPEC presidency. The next scheduled OPEC meeting is on June 2.

“None of the members have asked for an emergency meeting and I think for a long time there would be no such request,” Mirkazemi said.

Analysts are divided between those who see fundamental strength as the world economy recovers, driving up fuel consumption, and those who focus on differences between today’s relatively well-supplied market and that of 2008, when oil prices raced to an all-time high of nearly $150 a barrel.